


Out of the Shadows

by marauder1331



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Memories, Nightmares, things get better (or not)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-13
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-05-13 16:47:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 39
Words: 69,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5709748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marauder1331/pseuds/marauder1331
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place after the Battle of Gaia, showing a few days right after the war, will continue from there but jumping through months or years. <br/>Nico getting better, learning to trust others and himself, but still having to deal with all that happened to him in his life ( I suck at writing summaries)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Right after

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, first work ever!! be kind.

Three days in the infirmary didn’t sound so bad. There would be people there, most of them injured or sick, but he could deal with that, or so Nico thought. He was still worried his presence might scare some of the demigods, maybe make them think someone’s death was near, but he was willing to give it a try. Specially since he had promised Will he would. He was actually surprised he had bothered to make such a promise to someone he knew so little, but it felt right.   
Will was waiting for him and when Nico caught up to where he stood they turned for the infirmary.   
“Don’t worry, the infirmary holds 3 rooms for patients who need a more calm or reserved place to recover, so you can use one of those if it’ll make you more comfortable.” Will offered. Nico was relieved, he was trying to be near more people, but being able to rest in a secluded place rather than jumping in into a room full of people sounded better right now.   
“Yeah, I would like that.”  
Will just smiled as they got to the building and he held the door for Nico to walk in. As soon as he did the noise quiet down to barely nothing, everyone taking a second to look at the new arrival. Some demigods in beds actually looked around worriedly, trying to figure out if someone was in danger of dying, since the son of the Lord of the Underworld had just walked in. Will was unfazed by it and announced that Nico was staying for 3 days at least, more if he felt like he needed and that he was there as a patient, not as Hades’ son performing his duties. People relaxed and went back to tend their own business.   
Nico was surprised and glad to see that after such a simple explanation everyone was visibly ok in having him in the room. Will led him to the back of the infirmary, where the rooms were.   
“It’s simple, but cozy, I guess. Much more quieter than the beds in the big room at least” Will offered and let Nico in. The room was small, but it didn’t really need to be much bigger. It had a medium size bed, a window next to it and a nightstand with a lamp on top. Nico didn’t mind, after spending days trapped in a vase, anyplace that allowed him to stand, lay down and walk around was enough.   
“OK, so what now? I just lay down and sleep for 3 days?” He asked the blond standing by his side. Will looked at him with worried eyes and asked: “Do you think you could really sleep for 3 days straight? Are you that tired?”  
Nico didn’t expect him to take it so seriously, but if he knew that the son of Hades had actually slept (if you could call a shadow induced coma sleep) for even more than three days without waking up once, he might have been even more worried.   
“I have slept for a few days in a row (he didn’t need to know how many) but I was just kidding. Though I am tired enough that I might sleep for more hours than your usual patient I guess”. And he was tired. After years either fighting, training, running and surviving on his own, with the extra toll of Tartarus, the vase and dragging a giant statue along with Hedge and Reyna, not to mention the days after the battle he barely slept or didn’t at all performing burial rituals and going over Octavian’s death and Leo’s odd passing, he finally felt the weight of everything on his body and mind. He was very tired.   
Will seemed to pick up on Nico’s exhaustion and quickly prepared the bed for him. The son of Hades was grateful. Suddenly all he wanted to do was lie down and rest, really rest, for the whole 3 days. Just sleep, eat, maybe read a little in peace, but mostly let his alert system down. Not jumping at every sound, scanning for enemies every minute, keeping his muscles tense and ready for a fight every moment he was conscious, his mind in full and high alert mode, not dismissing anything that might turn into a threat.   
“Well, climb on your royal bed, death prince!” Will said, but in good humor and smiling at Nico.   
“Underworld! Not death.” Nico replied with a smirk of his own. The question if Thanatos had any child crossed his mind, but he quickly pushed it away.   
He removed his shoes, climbed into bed and was about to lay down when Will said “Hey, not so fast. I need to exam you first.”  
Nico froze at that. “What??”   
“Well, isn’t obvious? You’re in the infirmary, with a doctor…”  
“You’re not a doctor”  
“…yet, but in demigod world I’m as close to a doctor as anyone can be. So, shirt off and I’ll exam you as quick as possible so you can start resting.”  
Nico blushed furiously. He sure as hell didn’t want to take his shirt off. Will saw and gave him a kind smile.   
“If you prefer I can call any of my siblings to do that, if you’re not comfortable with me doing it” Will offered. Nico shook his head, it would be even more awkward and weird with someone else. He slowly and begrudgenly removed his shirt, suddenly very aware of his thin, though no more starved, physique. His ribs still showed as well as his hip bones, but less so than right after the vase and his stomach wasn’t as bad as before, when it look like it was just skin and was deep into his abdomen. Now he had some muscle in it, also on his arms and chest, but he was still skinny. Even when he was transporting the Athena statue and had actually began to eat better, the energy he used to shadow jumped alone was consuming most of what he ate, so his recovery had been severely hindered by the journey.  
As if noticing his discomfort in being exposed so much, Will proceeded with the exam quietly and gently. The only comment about his thin frame was medical and precise “We’ll need to develop a nutrition plan for you, so you can recover and gain some weight in a healty manner, okay?”  
Nico just nodded silently. Will then pick up his hands and let his healing powers do their work, running through Nico’s body and evaluating his health in detailed fashion. He measured the darkness and shadows in Nico as best as he could, since he never had dealt with something like that. Though his senses told him there was still too much darkness (more than he had expected since Nico hadn’t used his powers in a while) it seemed it was more quiet now, like a sleeping thing, inactivated, just stubbornly staying within Nico, under the surface.   
The stitches on his arms were not the best Will had seen, but he still admired Reyna’s work, considering they were on the run and in extreme hurry when the work was done. He supposed that with nectar and ambrosia the healing would go smoothly, some scaring was expected, the wounds had been deep and wide, there was no way it would heal without leaving a mark, but Nico didn’t seem to care much about that, considering he had other scars on his body. Will noticed one on his right shoulder, some small lines on his torso and a few more on his back and arms. His legs probably also had a few.   
Nico caught him staring at some of his scars and shifted uncomfortably. Will immediately averted his gaze, his turn now to blush. Nico thought it amusing and offered:  
“Some I got while training, most while fighting.”  
Will nodded and said “Sorry, didn’t mean to stare, was just curious how someone so young got so many scaring injuries.”  
The son of Hades was caught off guard by that. He thought it would be normal for demigods to bore scars, but apparently he was the champion of it. Great, one more “not good” thing to set him apart he thought bitterly.   
Will opened his mouth to say something when Jason burst into the room. Nico and Will looked at him with questioning faces.   
“I saw you going into the infirmary and was worried why you needed to be here and…. Oh, sorry! I came at a bad time?” He asked , sweeping his eyes on Nico’s bare body, surprise in his eyes telling he noticed the many scars all over and how thin he was, and then turning his eyes to the floor.   
Nico blushed again and immediately pulled his shirt back on, very self conscious now of his physical appearance.   
Will, saint as he was, smiled and explained “Don’t worry Jason, I just asked Nico to stay in the infirmary for a few days so I can monitor his health and make sure he gets the rest he needs after hauling that giant statue across half the world. It took quite a lot of power, determination and strength to do that, I’m surprised there existed someone , demigod or not, capable of doing that.” Nico felt a warm feeling in his gut. Was Will paying him a compliment? He thought so. He never did what he did for praises or gratitude, he did it because it needed to be done to stop a war, to spare the lives of demigods in a futile fight, and he was the only one capable of doing it. He was ready to die to fulfill what he saw as his duty. To have someone recognize what it took for him to get the Athena Parthenos to camp was new and it made him grateful in a way he didn’t expect.   
Jason nodded, as if agreeing with Will on his statement and added “I know, I talked to Reyna about the journey before she left for New Rome.” He turned to Nico and said “I can’t imagine how much that journey was hard, but I’m really thankful you made it and survived it.” He sounded honest and smiled kindly at Nico.   
Nico felt as if all his blood was on his cheeks. He had never been thanked before for what he did and being in the spotlight like that made him uncomfortable. Jason seemed to notice and changed subjects. “So, Solace, he will be alright?”  
“He needs rest and to not use his powers until the shadows and darkness in him either disappear or reaches a level that’s acceptable, since him being a son of Hades I don’t really know if it’s expected of him to have some shadow inside all the time, but yeah, he will be fine.” Will answered looking at Nico, to check if it was ok to give Jason such information. He thought it was, since Jason seemed concerned about Nico, as he thought it would be a good way to show Nico he could trust Jason to know about any difficulties he was going through.   
Nico was actually greatful for Will for giving Jason the explanation, he probably wouldn’t know how to, and he wanted to show Jason he was ok and thankful for his concern. But he didn’t have the answer for Will’s doubt. He felt the shadows and darkness in him whenever he used his powers too much, but had never bothered to check for them when he was in a normal (though rare occasions) situation. He had no idea if he always held a bit of them inside. Maybe he did?  
Jason seemed pleased with the answer and said goodbye, promising to visit the next day. Nico just nodded, grateful for his offer.   
Will smiled, went to get some nectar and food for Nico. He said they would start little by little, to make sure Nico’s body would take most of the nutrients. So he drank the nectar and ate the soup, bread and banana Will had brought.   
It was dark by the time the exam and medication and dinner was done, so Will told him to go to sleep, he would be in the infirmary for a while longer and check up on him before going to his cabin.   
He approached Nico’s side and placed a hand on his shoulder, Nico shuddered a bit, but didn’t pull away, so Will kept his hand there and said “I’m really glad you made it back to camp alive di Angelo, and I’m happier still that you decided to stay here”. He gave an awestruck Nico one of his largest smiles and left the room before Nico’s brain could come up with more than white noise for an answer.   
Alone in his room Nico smiled. For the first time in a long time he smiled with what he thought was genuine happiness and even though it hurt his face to do so, he felt light for the first time in forever.   
He lay down, getting ready to finally sleep (not coma induced) in a safe and comfortable place, with his belly full and his body finally off guard, also for the first time in a long time.  
Off course it wouldn’t last.


	2. No sleep for the wicked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start to get out of hand, not just for Nico.

Nico slip into sleep more easily than he thought he would, his last thoughts being he might actually get a good night sleep.  
How naïve of him, he would think later.  
All the years living alone had made him a person always on edge. His flight or fight instincts always on maximum alert, his mind sharp to jump into defense against any kind of attack, physical or mental, wasn’t used to have comfort and security. The darkness and shadows in him, that indeed had always been there, but much less present than now, started to shift. In this place where he tried to convince himself was safe all the delayed memories, nightmares, thoughts and emotions came barreling down from the maximum security vault he had locked them in so that he could function without them holding him back. All his fears were creeping out and crawling back to life.  
The running had stop, the fight to live one more day everyday had cease for now, the need to be always on his guard and that made him ignore anything that might slowed him down was gone; which lead him to let down his defenses. Only thing Nico didn’t realize was he also let down his defenses against himself, and everything he had squeezed inside a jar, put a lid on and them locked away in a corner of his mind was suddenly let free in his attempt to relax and let himself rest, and now he was trapped with all of them.  
His memories of his childhood were easier to access, though some would never return, but he had never had the time to allow himself to focus on them, to see his mother’s face and hear her laughter, to remember her cooking and singing for him and Bianca. When those memories came to him in his sleep, he was sad but at the same time happy to finally remember more of his mother. But soon it turned bitter. He remembered the hotel, Hades pleading with Maria to hide with the children on the Underworld, Maria answering so sure that Hades would protect them that she would not go. Nico was a bystander, watching him and Bianca running around, oblivious that their mother was about to die because they existed and because Zeus would not tolerate the children of his oldest brother being alive.  
He tried to shout, to scream a warning, to somehow let Hades know and have him protect Maria. His voice didn’t reach them and he screamed louder, knowing it was useless but still being incapable of not trying. Then Hades tensed and Nico knew what was coming. Hades scream “NO!” and raised the barrier over his children. Nico saw his mother’s face, the half second where she realized her children were in danger and she turned her body towards them, if she had had the time, Nico was sure she would have thrown herself in their way, to protect them from anything. But Zeus strike came first, blasting the hotel’s roof, part of the floor where it hit. The flash made Nico close his eyes, the last imagine of Maria still alive engraved in his mind. The next moment he saw her she was lying limp in the ruble.  
Hades bellowed in rage. Small Nico and Bianca stood silently, looking at their mother and imagining why she was so still. Little Nico looked to Bianca for answers, she always had them, and saw her eyes starting to tear up. He wondered now if she had already activated her powers and had felt their mother’s death and her soul passing.  
The scene shifted to him seeing Bianca for the last time, watching her leave camp, her back straight though he could easily read her and knew she was insecure about going on her first mission so soon. He could always read her, and she him.  
He remembered Percy’s promise. After the day they left Nico would check with Chiron everyday for news of the quest, the centaur patiently telling him there was no news yet. He felt it. It was the first death he remembered feeling. It had pulled at his heart, his mind and soul. He felt paralysed, his mind numb, rejecting the information he knew deep down was true. He still believed in Percy’s promise, he would bring Bianca safely back, he knew that. He lied to himself, saying that feeling had been wrong, it was just something weird that had happened and he tried to convince himself it was part of being a demigod.  
And when Percy returned he remember his excitement, wanting to hear from Bianca how her first quest had been. When Percy told him Bianca had died the feeling of her death hit him with double strength. How he hated Percy for it! His heart was torn, squeezed and beaten. Bianca’s death almost destroyed him there and then. And the skeletons coming for Percy and his action of defending the son of Poseidon, using his powers for the first time, scared him more than anything he felt before, so he ran. He ran until he could no longer run. It was cold, very cold, he was young, being crushed by grief and fear. He didn’t get far, falling to his knees barely a mile away from camp and crying until he could barely breathe, he felt his sobbing would break his ribs, so much they shook him and hurt his chest.  
It would occur to him, later and because Minos would rub it in his face, that though he had been so close to camp, no one came to look for him, no one bothered to find the son of Hades. Minos was the first to make Nico feel he was an outcast because of his parentage, though he for sure would not be the last. He would tell Nico of other children of Hades, hunted by the gods, by monsters sent by the other gods and even by demigods, given a mission by their parents during their sleep to track and destroy a threat against all other demigods. Those stories made Nico fear for his life and made his mind believe that he was always in danger, so he accepted Minos “help”. Minos taught how to summon spirits and skeletons, so that Nico would start training. He would drill Nico, needing him fit for his own purposes. More than once driving him to exhaustion with his training, saying he needed to get used to it or he would easily be killed by the many enemies he would have as a son of Hades.  
The despair he felt in those first days, running through the labyrinth, monsters chasing him, Minos’ impossible training, the still raw fresh grief and fear, plus the hunger that would eventually become one of Nico’s most reliable companion, was all engraved in his bones, he would still feel it whenever he would allow himself some reprieve.  
All those thoughts and feelings started to have consequences in the wake world. Nico’s body started to shake, his jaw clenched impossibly tight, his heart beating so fast any Apollo healer would think he was about to have a heart attack. The darkness and shadows started acting up, pouring out from him, putting up a defense around the son of Hades. They were his last defense, rather anyone, even Nico, hadn’t notice. In his time of ultimate despair and need, when no attacks worked, when his powers proved to be not enough against an enemy, the darkness and shadows within would come as a last and ultimate defense, bringing with them the worst they could from inside Nico. All the fear, the anger, the despair, the grief, the sense of lost and outcast, the rejections, the self hatred, all the pain he ever felt would be used against the threat, merciless, raw, capable of bending and bringing enemies to their knees, knocking them unconscious. His darkness and shadows didn’t care who was in the way, they existed to protect him, to destroy anything that cause Nico to feel so threaten. The last, most efficient and absolute attack and defense a child of Hades had.  
And now they were in his room, swirling around, not lashing out yet, but ready, concentrating around the bed, hiding it’s true size under it, condensed fear and hate, hunger and pain, despair and grief, capable of rendering even monsters useless.  
Hades had that same ability, but he was a God, an incredibly old God, older than Zeus. He had learned long ago how to use that power to the finest, focusing on fear and using it like the master he was, harvesting the opponent’s fear, amplifying it and using it's full force against his enemy. Monsters had been pulverized by that, with no need for Hades to even move.  
Nico was barely 15 and of all the training he had and had self taught, he never knew he had that inside him, much less that he could control and use it.  
The temperature in the infirmary started to drop. Will felt it. He bolted to the room and when he opened the door he froze in place. The shadows reacted to his presence. They whirled around and rose from the ground like snakes, almost blocking Nico from view. The room became even colder.  
Will shouted Nico’s name. That was a mistake. His worried and scared voiced seemed to extract a reaction from Nico. He started to trash in his sleep, fissures cracked the floor, a horrible sound like moaning of the dead ran through the building. Patients scream in fear, panic starting in the area of the sickbay.  
Will watched in horror as skeletons warriors crawled from the fissure, dressed for battle and emanating hostility. The shadows and darkness still holding their ground in the back, moving but not advancing.  
He knew it was above him to deal with this alone, he shut the door, thought it physically hurt him to do it, the last thing he wanted was to leave Nico alone, like he always had been. But calling his name had cause such reaction, he knew he needed help.  
“Get all the patients out! NOW!” Will commanded his siblings.


	3. To the rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things keep getting more complicated

The evacuation was swift and professional, all the Apollo’s children efficient and well trained. The noise and movement raised the attention of the other campers, going back to their cabins after the sing along.  
Will spotted Jason with Piper and called to the son of Jupiter. Jason ran to him, Piper right behind.  
Annabeth saw the trio, grabbed Percy’s hand and dragged him to the infirmary. They got there when Will started to explain.  
“He was asleep, I thought he was ok, then the temperature dropped and when I opened the door he was surrounded by shadows, and they seemed to react to me! I called his name and it made it worse, he started to trash around and summoned skeletons in his sleep. I need help, you need to deal with the skeletons so I can reach Nico and try to help him. Piper, you can help me with that.”  
Piper nodded and they went to get their weapons and met again in the infirmary in less than 5 minutes.  
They walked in and felt the difference in temperature, it was worse even than when Will evacuated the patients. As close as they got to the room, the colder it got.  
Will, leading the party, looked to the four and they nodded, ready for him to open the door. When he did, Jason felt cold (even colder) ran down his spine. He had seen those shadows, been on the receiving end of them, and they seemed darker and more solid than when he faced Cupid with Nico. The wariness took over, he blocked the entrance form the others and pushed them back, the skeletons, that were roaming the room had turned to them and raised their weapons had stopped their advance when Jason pushed the others back, putting more space between them.  
The others looked at him, demanding an explanation.  
“Those shadows, circling Nico, they are dangerous. They can knock us out and leave us at the mercy of the skeletons. If you’re hit by them, they can cause physical and mental harm, they attack both mind and body, making you sick, dizzy or causing you to pass out, I almost did, and in that occasion they didn’t look so strong. I think we need a plan to go in” Jason hurriedly explained.  
The others immediately changed their posture, tensing even more. Physical fights were something they were used to, mental attacks were a thing in demigod life, but they didn’t have a lot of training against it. Percy had been subjected to Hades powers, though he doubted the God had use the full extend of his power. Thinking that it could happen again didn’t make him look forward to enter that room.  
Automatically they all turned to Annabeth, waiting for instructions. Will was fidgeting, more than usual, anxious to storm the room and reach Nico. He was worried the son of Hades might get hurt in the fight with the skeletons and didn’t know what to expect of the shadows.  
The daughter of Athena was deep in thought.  
“The room is small, the space will limit our fighting, but also the skeletons movements. There are 5 skeletons, and four of us to fight, Will’s priority is to reach Nico, so we will be in disadvantage…”  
“No you won’t.” Clarisse stood in the doorway, dressed for battle as usual. “I saw the ruckus and came in case it was something worth it, and apparently it is.”  
Will felt bothered by that, as if this was just a form of entertaining for the daughter of Ares. But they needed help. So he kept quiet.  
“Okay, with Clarisse here the odds start to get better.” Annabeth said. “We need to draw at least 3 of them out of the room, all of them if possible, but there’s a chance more will be summoned if the room is left completely unguarded”  
“It won’t be unprotected, those shadows will guard Nico as last resort and they are probably more dangerous than the warriors.” Jason warned.  
“Concerning those shadows, I’m not sure how to deal with them. Piper, maybe you can charmspeak Nico to call them back?” Annabeth asked.  
Piper seemed to take that suggestion in and nodded “I’ll try, but what if I can’t?”  
Annabeth thought some more. “Then will just have to try to reach him through them, try to avoid them”  
“Couldn’t we wait for him to calm down and call them back?” Percy asked  
“No.” Will answered with absolute certainty “Those shadows and darkness were inside him, if they are out it means he’s using his powers even without knowing, and that can cause more shadow and darkness to gather within him. He could be filled with them and be dissolved into them in the end.”  
The others, except Jason who had heard from Reyna that Nico almost died more than once because of the overuse and toll of his powers, gasped and their eyes showed how that horrible possibility scared them. Even Clarisse seemed concerned about the son of Hades fading.  
“Right, we must hurry then!” Jason said. The six readied themselves, Piper and Will standing by the left side of the door, prepared to run to Nico as soon as they could. Percy opened the door and the skeletons warriors turned to him.  
“ Oh, Poseidon’s beard!” they heard him say in alarm. “There are more now!”  
In the time they took to figure out a plan and in his continuous internal struggle Nico had unconsciously summoned more skeletons warriors. There were now 9 of them, a tenth pair of hands just in sight in the fissure closest to the bed. Percy saw the shadows moving and reaching for the boy in the bed, as if they wanted to cover him and protect him from the intruders at the door. Nico himself was breathing so fast and shallow Percy felt even worse for him, he looked so small on that bed, with shadows grabbing at his feet and hands, his face tight in pain and just trying to breathe.


	4. So close it almost hurt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Since when things go right?

“We need to act now!” Will urged them.  
“Okay!” Percy agreed and did what Percy does “Hey, you bunch of ugly dudes! Come get us! I bet I can outrun you anytime!” The others stared at the son of Poisedon with mixture of surprise (mostly Will and Clarisse, who didn’t know Percy that well to expect that) and annoyed acceptance (specially Annabeth). They actually didn’t know if the skeletons could hear, only that they obeyed Nico’s spoken commands, so that was a maybe. Anyway, it worked. Seven skeletons detached themselves from the protecting unit and launched themselves against Percy with enough speed to surprise him and the other demigods. They expected them to be much slower than that, but apparently Nico’s power had evolved he was able to call better quality undead. It would be good news if they weren’t the ones facing said better warriors.  
“Here! Take this!” Annabeth shoved her invisibility cap on Will’s hands and, along with Percy, Jason and Clarisse ran to try and bait the skeletons to the sickbay, where there would be more room to fight.  
That left 2 and a half skeletons to Piper and Will, odds they didn’t like but had to deal with, and before the half skeleton finished pulling himself from the crack.  
“You use the hat and try to get to Nico!” Piper said. Will nodded and put the cap on, turning invisible.  
They barged into the room, Piper immediately kicking the closest skeleton right in the center of the ribcage, causing him to fall backwards and into the pit again. The element of surprise gone, the second skeleton engaged her with full force. She was a good fighter now with swords, but the close quartes, the fissures in the ground, the tenth skeleton almost out of the ground completely and the shadow moving like snakes preparing to bite were a lot to deal with. She tried to push the warrior into one of the fissures, but it was a big warrior (child of Ares, maybe, she thought) and it pushed back, almost making her all instead. Something hit the left knee of the warrior and it lost balance, Piper took advantage, swung her blade beheading the warrior and kicking the body down one of the cracks on the floor.  
The tenth warrior had just climbed out but still was getting up, Piper body slammed him back into the fissure.  
All the while the shadows got bigger, darker, the cold in the room enough to fog their breaths. Nico’s breathing could be seen as well and it made the image worse, seeing puff after puff of white smoke coming out of his mouth in a frenetic pace. His entire body screamed of fear and pain, tensed, trashing every few moments, sounds coming from him as if he was fighting with all he had so he wouldn’t scream.  
The shadows started pulsing and releasing waves of itself, small, almost transparent at first, growing darker by each second.  
Will and Piper were starting to be affected, Will took off the cap to look at Piper. He knew she was starting to feel it too. There weren’t images yet, like it happened to Jason, first it was only feelings.  
The fear started to creep on them, making them shuddered. Will called to Piper, as calm as he could, he knew if the panicked or showed any negative emotion the shadows would react even worse and Nico might summon more warriors.  
“Piper, talk to him. Remember why we are here. And be gentle, don’t provoke the shadows”  
Piper shook,took a step closer to the bed and Nico. The shadows shifted, pointing sharp edges in her direction, as if warning her not to come closer to their master.  
“Nico, you don’t need to be afraid, we are here to help you, your friends. Your safe here, I promise, we just want you to be happy, we have your back, believe us, please. We will help you.” She poured every bit of charmspeak she had into it. Nico was still now, his breathing still fast, but it seemed to slow down just a fraction.  
The sound of fight in the sickbay was dying down, which would help calming the son of Hades.  
The shadows seemed to retreat the slightest, still very much threatening, but apparently folding itself and making itself a bit smaller.  
Will even let go a breathe he had been holding since entering the room.  
“Me, Jason, Hazel, Will, Reyna, Annabeth, Percy and Frank are your friends Nico and we want you to be well, we are here for you, we will help anyway we can, you can calm down, it’s safe, you are not going to be hurt.” Piper continued. Will was amazed at her calm and power in face of such a terrifying scene. She avoided the fissures and advanced, the shadows now visibly retracting back into Nico, which made Will fell angry. They didn’t belong there! Nico wasn’t darkness and shadows, he was so much more. Will resented those shadows more than anything in his life.  
He heard some shuffling near the door and saw the four demigods standing by the entrance, evaluating the situation. Will signal with his hands for them to stay still and silent. They obeyed, Jason and Annabeth stepping in and positioning themselves on either side of the door, Percy and Clarisse staying by the door.  
Nico had relaxed visibly, his breathing fast, but not even close to what was a few moments ago, the temperature of the room slowly rising and the shadows coming out from under the bed and slowly returning to Nico, it’s mass still impressive and too big for comfort, but growing smaller by the second.  
Piper still talking to Nico, telling him how much they wanted him to be alright.  
Will thought “That’s it, just a little bit more and I can touch his ankles, start the healing from there, just a minute or two more!”  
Nico’s body shuddered and his edges blurred, his body suddenly turned all shadow and darkness for a second and came back to normal. Everybody gasped. Piper froze in her speaking for a moment, returning to work right after, though her voice now held a shake of concern. All eyes in the room, safe Nico’s, were so wide they could be seen in the almost dark room.  
Will’s mind screamed about how urgent it was for him to reach Nico. He took a step forward, the shadows now almost all gone and focused on his upper body, so Will could reach Nico’s ankles if he took 2 more steps and stretched his arms. He took one more step, calmly, quietly and with caution, not wanting to look hostile to the shadows and cause them to sprint out of NIco again.  
One more step. The shadows curling around Nico’s torso shifted, Will froze. Somehow he knew the shadows were aiming at him, as if evaluating his threat level. They began sinking into Nico’s chest and his body again shuddered and turn all shadows and darkness, coming back more slowly this time and with static effect, like his body was having difficulties focusing in returning to solid form. Will was terrified.  
He started to lift his arms, carefully. Everyone in the room was holding their breaths, except for Piper, still talking to Nico, calming him.  
Will’s hands were mere inches from Nico when things went to Tartarus.  
Someone burst into the infirmary and shouted at full strength: “Is anybody here? Anybody needs help?”  
The six in the room froze and tensed. Nico’s body twisted in the bed and the shadows resurfaced from all of him, looking ten times more menacing and pulsing, growing bigger and stronger by each pulse.  
“Everybody run!!” Jason yelled reaching for Piper’s hand, who was grabbing Will with her other hand.  
Will tried to shake her off and reached for Nico, but the shadows were much, much faster.  
Nico’s body arched, the back of his head, his elbows and feet the only parts maintaining contact with the bed, it was hard to watch, but no one could avert their eyes. Then the shadows attacked. It was a single wave, but it was enough. Percy and Annabeth were remembered of Nyx palace and the darkness in it. The wave held the same color and it terrified them.  
They were all hit, Will and Piper took the full strength of it, being the closest to Nico, but the other didn’t get any watered down version of it, just a tiny fraction less intense.  
Jason thought he would be ready in case it happened again and he would be able to resist it again. He was so wrong. The wave that hit him was more condensed than the less intense waves in the Cupid episode.  
All six collapse on the floor and soon lost consciousness, the feelings and memories flooding into them too much for their minds to bear.  
Will’s last thought before his mind went black was: “I hope no one dies because of this.”


	5. The prison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This memory will cause a lot of grief

Later they would find out the dark wave had broken from the infirmary, the ones closest to it were hit with a slightly weaker version of it, most demigods falling unconscious or barely conscious. The ones further from the building were hit with more of the feelings than the memories attached to the wave of darkness. Chiron and Dyonisius the only ones that took the wave full blast near the infirmary and still standing, though Chiron swayed when the wave hit him and Mr. D made a face that would be priceless if there had been any demigod awake to see it.  
“Well, there’s no denying he’s Hades’ boy. Old Death Lord would be proud.” Dyonisius said dryly.  
Inside the Nico’s room the six were still on the floor. The weight of the shadows attack still in them.  
Instead of many memories at once, like Jason had been submitted in Croatia, they had been hit with one specific memory, so vivid they felt themselves in Nico’s place.  
Nico was being half dragged, half pushed and half carried not one bit careful by giants and titans to the doors of Death. He had bruises and gashes on his face and arms, there seemed to be a cut on the right shoulder of his shirt and it was bleeding.  
He looked so small standing amongst his captors. He was scared, they felt his fear as intense as he had felt it, but he tried really hard not to show them how scared he was. He wouldn’t avert his gaze if they teased them, which earned him some slaps on the face and back of his head.  
Being the son of Hades he could see Tartarus for all the horror that it was, but with such enormous beings around him not much could be seen past them. Being spared of that, even by accident, he was sure if the giants and titans knew he could see through the illusion of the mist they would most likely force him to stare at the planes of Tartarus for hours, was enough to make him be able to try to resist a minimal. He was sure they were marching him to his death. He had no idea what happened if he died in Tartarus. The thought his soul might be trapped there forever made him want to throw up. He could feel the doors nearby.  
Tartarus himself had said to use him as bait (the memory of that event wasn’t released by the shadows, and Percy and Annabeth later told the others they had been incredibly lucky for that) and to keep him in breathing condition at least for a while.  
He was limping from a twisted ankle, but if he fell behind his escort they would grab him by the neck and dragged him, so he limped as fast as he could, becoming exhausted after a while. He began to fall back and one of the Titans pushed forward, he lost his balance and fell, too tired to even try to get up. They laughed. His hatred and anger burning him from inside. One of the giant twins grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled him up by it. Nico clenched his jaw to hold back a cream of pain.  
As soon as he was up they were on the move again, and Nico knew he soon would fall again, too tired to continue.  
A few yards away and he fell to his knees. The captors laughed again, pulled him by his shirt’s collar to his feet, only to push him down again. They kept at it, pulling him up by his shirt, arms and neck, making him stand then pushed him back down again. Soon he couldn’t even stand when pulled to his feet, he would just fall back down, too exhausted to even care about the laughter above him.  
One of the Titans, Nico’s vision to blurred to tell which, came forth and announced they had enough, they had to get the “soon to be dead” demigod to the surface and prepare the traps. He came forward and with his powers healed Nico from his injuries. “Now you can walk on your own, get up or I’ll break your legs and arms, heal them and break them again until you get up”. Nico got up and pushed himself on, not for once doubting the Titan’s words.  
When they got to the doors he was handled to the twin giants, each grabbing one of his arms so tight they almost broke them.  
When they got out of the elevator back into the world, Nico almost cried to see sunlight once again and breathe fresh air. It didn’t last long.  
As soon as they arrived at the giants hide out, they again grabbed Nico, who had been tied up so tightly it was hard to breathe and blindfolded so he wouldn’t be able to see or use any shadows to escape if he managed to untied his legs. They cut the ropes and removed the blindfold and started dragging him towards the center of a room, where stood a vase.  
Nico’s blood ran cold, remembering the tale of Ares and that vase. He began trashing and resisting, uselessly, and he knew. The twins first thought amusing, then annoying. Ephialtes grabbed Nico by the neck, cutting his breathing and started dragging him towards the vase.  
His oxygen level going down, his struggles faded to almost nothing, his brain fighting to remain conscious. The Giant lifted him from the ground and now he really couldn't breathe, panic took him and his chest burned from lack of air, the rest of his body falling in suite. Soon he ached from head to toe from being deprived from oxygen.  
Ephialtes and Otis laughed at his struggle. Otis removed the lid from the vase and Ephialtes violently shoved Nico inside the small and dark prison. Able to breathe again Nico had no chance to react as the lid was put back in place after the giants dropped his sword inside the vase. He saw that last half moon slice of light disappears as the lid was put in place and he was sealed in the vase.  
He tried to remove the lid, of course, but it wouldn’t budge, and he was already weakened by his ordeal in Tartarus. He couldn’t move inside the jar.  
He took stock of what he had. His sword, that provided a little bit of light at least,and the pomegranate seeds that he hoped he would never need. He tried to think of his options, but there was none. He was helpless, and that made him fell angry at himself for putting himself in that situation and now being at the enemies mercy, being used to bait the others. Well, that at least brought a bitter smile to his face. He knew no one would come for him. With a certainty that crushed his spirit he knew no one would come.  
If Hazel found out, she would try, he knew that much, but the others wouldn’t let her come alone and they wouldn’t risk the quest to save the son of Hades.  
This piece of memory hurt Jason the worst, remembering how he and Leo were hesitant to go rescue Nico because they didn’t trust him.  
Nico’s only regret for them not coming was that he knew where the Doors of Death were and had no way to tell them. He counted the seeds and thought. Maybe he would have a chance to escape, the twins didn’t seem to clever, they might screw up and Nico might escape to at least tell the others about the doors, after that it wouldn’t matter.  
So he ate one of the seeds, feeling it’s underworld power run through him. He induced himself into a death coma, almost greeting Death himself in the process.  
Every 24hrs or so he would wake up to eat one more seed, counting the days and marking them on the side of the jar. If only his dreams would reach the others. He was running out of time. Every time he woke up he would feel the deep and painful tug of hunger in his stomach. He tried to ignored it, he would get used to it soon. It made him nauseous, week and light headed, it would twist his insides, like a black hole was inside him, churning his insides. The despair of being in that vase grew with his hunger, the air becoming harder to breathe. By now, more than ever, he was certain that vase would be his grave. He wondered if anyone would eventually find him, the last son of Hades, starved and suffocated to death in a damned vase. His eyes stung but he refused to cry, his humiliation already too big and overwhelming. He prayed to Hipnos before going back to his coma, to allow him to contact someone, anyone, and tell them about the doors.  
He suspected the jar blocked his prayers and attempts, because he was gifted in controlling and navigating dreams and he couldn’t get passed the walls of the vase. He would also only dream of Tartarus when he would dream at all. Terrible nightmares.  
The giants opened the vase once, to remove his sword. The fresh air that rushed in awoke Nico. Ephialtes seemed disappointed he was still alive. Otis was delighted. “Oh look Elphy! He’s still alive! We can have some fun with him now, can’t we?” Otis practically sung.  
“ No. Only after we have the others.” Ephialtes answered annoyed.  
“ But look at him! He’s barely alive as it is!” Otis said.  
“ Well, tough. Pray he lives another couple of days then, so you can have your fun AFTER we caught the others”  
Nico was confused. What others? Were someone coming for him? He couldn’t, wouldn’t , dare to believe it. He was too weak to move, to speak, so he just stood there, listening to the bickering giants and taking as many breaths he could from the fresh air.  
The giants continue to argue, but about tutus and clothes, bringing the lid back to the vase and closing it. Nico’s last light gone, now in total darkness since his sword was gone. The darkness had never bothered him before, it was where he belonged. But what he wouldn’t give for a little bit of light now.  
His next 24hrs of death coma were plagued by nightmares, but in the middle of it and old enemy came to him. Minos face appeared before him, smirking and laughing evilly.  
“ Oh son of Hades, I can’t wait for you die and come to me for judgement. I know you have your parentage to support you, but with the chaos your father is dealing with right now thanks to your failure in closing the Doors, well, I think it would take him a few years to notice his son has passed and didn’t make it to his throne room. Even if the others save the world, your soul will know no victory. I will make sure you are sentence to the worst punishments. I am capable of swinging the other judges, you know? You deprived me of my revenge on Daedalus by recommending his services to your Father, so now you will take his place!” Minos snarled.  
Nico almost kicked himself. If Hazel and the other had indeed succeeded in freeing Thanatos that meant if he died he would become a ghost, and not come back to life inside the vase over and over again liked he feared. If he died, he could go to Hazel and warned her.  
Minos seemed to read his thoughts. Nico began to wonder if it really was a dream of if Minos was haunting him in the vase.  
“ Don’t bother Hades’ brat. This vase would contain your spirit as well” He said maliciously.  
Nico almost choked. If he died, he would be stuck in the vase forever?? Panic and despaired again flooded his chest, he couldn’t breathe. Minous laughed and that brought sense to Nico. He wouldn’t allow Minos to see him like that, defeated and panicking.  
Minos image just faded, his laugh still echoing until he said: “ Pray to die in this vase boy! If you reach my stand you will miss this prison compared to where I’ll send you!” 

With Minos gone Nico stoped holding his feeling, it was too hard and it was consuming too much of his strength to do so. His body shook from exhaustion, pain from not being able to move for days, huger and thirst clawing his insides mercilessly, his despair causing a torment inside him, a void in his chest making want to throw up. His fear of never leaving this vase was palpable. His thoughts that Minos might actually succeed in his revenge making everything worse.  
Nico finally felt his defeat. Broken, starved, beaten into ultimate defeat, no fight left in him anymore. The feeling of defeat crushing him into himself, making him feel insignificant and useless. He ate the last pomegranate seed to stall his fate, whatever one of the horrible two, for as long as possible. His thoughts as he induced his last death coma was: “ Will I come back to this vase or go the judgment by Minos? I hope Hazel survive this and find some happiness, she deserves it.”  
Darkness took him. When he opened his eyes again he saw multicolored eyes and thought “ Wow, they are beautiful”


	6. Any good news?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wasn't too happy with this chapter, but it had to be written

Percy woke up so suddenly he almost fell off the bed. The first thing he realized was: His head hurts, a lot. He was hungry and thirsty like he hadn’t eaten or drink anything for days, his mind was a bit sluggish also. Annabeth would say that’s nothing new.   
Annabeth! He looked around. He was on one of the infirmary’s bed. By his left was Annabeth, still asleep. On Annabeht’s left was Piper and then Jason and finally Will, all still unconscious. 

“Drink and eat Jackson” a rough voice said. Percy turned his head to the right and saw Clarisse sitting on the bed next to his. There was a nightstand to his right too, and it had a bottle of water and a sandwich.  
“Yeah, I know, you’re very hungry and very thirsty. Seems it’s an collateral effect from the memory we shared with Nico, or so Chiron thinks, cause every hit by the memory woke up like that. I really feel bad for that son of Hades now.” Clarisse informed him.   
Percy then remembered the events before, and after, he was knocked out by a big black freaky wave. He took the water and the sandwich and used the time consuming them thinking about what had happened, he was indeed too hungry to talk. When he was done he asked Clarisse “Is everyone alright? Is everyone waking up?”  
“Off course they are Jackson! It was a memory, not poison! Geez, how does Annabeth take this all day.” Clarisse spat. Than her face softened, she knew he was worried about the 4 still unconscious “They are just waking up at different times. The ones who were further away from the “blast” are waking up sooner. Everyone who was hit outside woke up in less than an hour. I woke up about 45 minutes ago, and now you, after 3 hours of the incident.”

Percy sighed in relief, but noticed Clarisse wary way of saying incident. “Is Nico alright?”  
The daughter of Ares seemed lost for words for a minute. “He’s not worse, I guess. Truth is I don’t know much. Chiron and Mr. D went inside his room to check on him after dragging us out of it, the shadows didn’t attack them, so maybe he ran out of juice to use it? But as far as I know, he wasn’t awake when they went in there later. That was about 2 hours ago. No child of Apollo is daring to go inside the room either, they don’t know what to do.”  
Percy couldn’t blame them, that had been a scary thing to go through and had left people knocked out cold on the floor. But he still thought someone had to help Nico, it was obvious it hadn’t been on purpose. Jason had said he saw it before, so he might be able to shed some light… if he was awake.   
“Well, if the Appolo kids won’t go near him, who is going to help him?” He asked feeling annoyed, not only for the other campers, but for himself not being able to offer any solution. If only it was a fight they were facing, then he would be the guy to go to. This? He hadn’t wrapped his head around the fact that Nico could do that. And it made him worry. After all the difficulties that kid had faced, this was only going to make his life at camp harder. If the healers were afraid to even go inside his room, he could only imagine how worse the other campers would feel about the son of Hades now. 

“Chiron is still in di Angelo’s room, Mr. D left after he noted he’s not the god of health or light or whatever. We’ll have to wait to see what he says I guess” Clarisse said. 

Waiting was a hard thing for any demigod. Almost unbearable.   
About 30 minutes after he woke up Annabeth opened her eyes. They gave her the same briefing Clarisse gave Percy, she only nodded while she ate her sandwich.   
Chiron showed up a few minutes later, looking tired and dejected. “I’m glad to see at least half of you are already up.”  
“How’s Nico?”Annabeth asked the centaur.   
“I’m unable to tell. He is still sleeping, very deeply, that use of his powers must’ve drained him. I tried all I know to wake him or speed up his recovery, but not much improved. The fact he is less affected by nectar and ambrosia makes me wonder what could we use to help him heal faster. I contacted Reyna through IM after my attempts failed. She told me to call Hedge immediately, so I’m on my way to do that. She is also on her way back, with Hazel. She’s leaving Frank in charge for now.” With that Chiron turned towards the door and left to seek and bring Coach Hedge. 

“If Chiron couldn’t help him, I assume he is in big trouble” Clarisse thought out loud. 

Percy and Annabeth exchanged worried glances. This was not how they pictured they last year in camp to start.


	7. Angry Satyr is not good for a headache

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, trying to show everyone's POV before going back to the mais story.

Jason woke up with a groggy mind. He sat up and saw Clarisse, Percy and Annabeth awake, Piper and Will still out of it.  
He was told by the others what had happened since they lost conscious. Jason was about to ask when Reyna and Hazel were going to arrive when Hedge entered the infirmary. And he was furious. Not the mouthing out loud swinging baseball bat mad he always was. He was really, really angry.  
“Why, in all your supreme intelligence didn’t you go get the one person in camp that has ACTUALLY treated Nico for this symptoms BEFORE you all went into his room and made him go nuke?!” he practically shouted at them. By the way all four cringed, they all still had pretty bad headaches.  
“It was an emergency Coach! We thought we didn’t have the time to wait for the cavalry!”Annabeth tried to explain.  
“Listen here missy! I’m taking none of that! You probably made whatever is going on worse! And now I’ll have to try and fix it; and let me tell you something, the first time I had to fix it we almost lost him! We could see through him, we couldn’t move him, we could barely help him. It took days for him to be even solid enough for us to force some unicorn draught into him and still it was touch and go. If that kid fades away, I’m blaming all of you for it.” Hedge said with flared nostrils. 

Clarisse, who knew Hedge most of her life had never seen the satyr so upset and managed to keep her mouth shut, not wanting to make things worse.  
The other three only bowed their heads, not wanting to cause more conflict with Hedge. The satyr huffed and started walking toward the rooms in the back of the infirmary, Chiron quietly entered the building and followed him. 

Jason was the first to say something about what all of them were thinking “He’s going to be alright, though, right?”  
The absolute silence was the only answered offered. 

Piper woke up almost 2 hours after Jason. She got all the info from the others and looked sad about it. She had seen Nico so isolated when they were in the Argo II. She now knew why he was always on the outside of the ship, most of the time on top of the mast. After days in such a tight and dark space, she would want to be in open air as much as possible too. She had felt through the memory the amazement Nico had felt when he found himself out of the vase and staring at her eyes, she felt his relief and gratitude towards whoever had the “beautiful eyes” he saw when he woke up. And she felt horrible for him.  
The daughter of Aphrodite had enough empathy to fill a house. Seeing what Nico went through and feeling his absolute certainty that no one was going to come for him crushed her. What could make a person think, be so sure of it, that no one cared enough to help him? She felt so sad and hurt for Nico. She didn’t know him so well, she knew Jason had changed his views of the son of Hades after Croatia, so she tried to give room to change her mind about him too. Jason told her about Nico’s confession in leaving both camps forever, and that he wanted to make him change his mind, try at least. She tried to help him come up with arguments to convince Nico to stay, not really sure why it mattered so much, but still caring about it.  
When Nico offered to take the statue all the way to camp she was surprised. His commitment to stop the war and help whatever way he could made her view him with more respect. She didn’t know the details of the journey yet, Reyna had told Jason but she didn’t have the time to talk to either of them about it.  
After the final battle Jason had come to her, very happy, and told her Nico was staying in camp. She felt happy too, though in less degrees than Jason. Her boyfriend seemed to think it was very important to show Nico he was welcomed at camp and she was willing to do that. 

She hoped the campers would give him a chance, that whatever effect the wave had on them wouldn’t prevent them from showing some kindness toward the son of Hades, to whom they all owed a lot but few cared about. 

 

Will was finally awake, since he was practically touching Nico when he got hit, his mind took a while longer to recover from the blow. He too got the others story while eating, but had barely swallowed his sandwich and drank all the water he was up on his feet and moving towards Nico’s room. The others tried to call him back, fearing Coach Hedge’s reaction, but the son of Apollo wouldn’t even slow down his strides.  
Reyna and Hazel had arrived at camp an hour ago. He saw Hazel sitting on a chair by Nico’s bedroom door. She looks so worried. She saw Will and jumped to her feet.  
“I’m so sorry that happened to you, but please don’t be mad at Nico, he didn’t mean to hurt anyone!”  
Will was astounded. Why would he be mad? He knew it had been an accident, he sure was not going to blame Nico for having so much horrible things happened to him that his escape valve had gotten out of control  
“What? No! I know that Hazel, I really do. I don’t blame Nico for anything and I want to help him, I’m sure everyone knows it was an accident” He said. Hazel looked relieved by his answer, but also hurt.  
“Not everyone understands that.” She practically whispered, looking down with sad eyes.  
Will felt a fist squeezing his heart. Nico had just agreed to stay at camp, Will himself told him he was welcomed and that Nico was the one that hadn’t given anyone a chance to be his friend. And now it could all go to Hades because of one accident, a non fatal, no permanent damage, accident.  
He took a deep breath. His priority right now was helping Nico get better, he would worry about the other campers later. Maybe he could rely on the other 5 still in the sickbay area to help.  
“We’ll explain to them Hazel, but right now I need to check on Nico” Will said. Hazel actually gave him a small grateful smile and move aside so Will could go into the room.  
He opened the door and took in the scene. 

Nico was sitting on the bed propped up by a bunch of pillows so he would still be half lying down. His eyes were closed but his face much more serene, no pain or fear etched to it.  
He was covered in a weird smelling brown paste put on pieces of paper and placed all over him. Will could barely see him under all that, there was one even on his forehead.  
Hedge was by Nico’s bed side, chanting something while making more paste.  
Reyna was Nico’s other side, her hand placed gently on the son of Hades arm, her face focused.  
When Will entered they both looked at him. Hedge looked tired, but determined.  
Reyna looked exhausted, but holding her regal demeanor.  
“How is he doing?” Will asked, concern obvious in his voice. That seemed to softened the other two a little, to hear someone worried for Nico as they seemed to be. 

“Less bad than I thought, worse than what he should be” Was the coach answer. Hedge knew Solace was sincerely worried for Nico, when Hedge had first told him about di Angelo’s condition during their journey the boy’s face went white and he questioned the satyr as much as he could about symptoms and treatments for that. Hedge suspected that concern was well placed and hid something more to it.  
Reyna sighed at Hedges cryptic response and said “He’s been in and out of conscious for the past 3 hours. We have seen him a lot worse than this son of Apollo, but it still is a worrying situation. His body is solid now, hasn’t faltered once since we got here, but he is tired from the accidental use of his powers.” She put a lot of emphasis on the word accidental. “ I’ve been sharing my strength with him as much as I can, but he is still sleeping a lot.” Reyna had heard from Hedge about this son of Apollo who seemed to care about Nico, since he was apparently Nico’s medic as well she thought it would be pertinent for him to know her ability, so that she could be included on the plan to take help Nico. Will sighed with relief, he was surprised to hear of this ability of the daughter of Bellona, but was happy all the same someone else had gifts that could help Nico in his recover. All he wanted to hear was that Nico was getting better. 

Just then the younger demigod stirred and opened his eyes, they did look very tired. He focused on Hegde and Reyna first, then saw Will.  
“Hey Death Boy! How are you feeling?” Will said in his upbeat tone.


	8. Can I have my face back?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I like to think Reyna and Hedge would be like mother hens around Nico when he is such bad condition

Nico looked at Will for a second, then turned his eyes down, hiding his face with his hair.   
Will took a few steps forward, wanting to show Nico he wasn’t afraid to approach him but wanting to give the son of Hades enough space to not feel overwhelmed.   
“Hey, don’t avoid me Death Boy, I know it was an accident, you don’t need to feel guilty about anything, no one was hurt. Trust me, you did way less damage than the lava wall or capture the flag on a daily basis.”Will tried to convey sincerity in his words, for that was true.   
Nico lifted his head a bit, Will noticed the dark shadows were a bit darker under his eyes, and he thought he saw guilt in his dark eyes.   
“I’m so sorry Will, I never meant to do that, I didn’t even know I had done it until I woke up and Chiron and Coach Hedge were here and told me what happened” Nico said. To Will he looked so fragile at that moment he couldn’t believe that small, very thin and tired demigod had put over 12 campers on the floor without even meaning to do so.   
“I know, don’t worry, we’ll work on that ability of yours so you don’t lose control again, but only after you rest for a good while, you look horrible Nico” Will said in good spirit, trying to lighten the mood in the room, but it seemed to work the other way. Nico flinched and shook his head.   
“As soon as he wakes up he refuses to go back to sleep, he’s been napping on and off since we got here, but when he’s awake he won’t let himself sleep deeply unless Hedge’s healing makes him” Reyna provided explanation. Nico looked down again.   
He was afraid to sleep deeply again and cause another accident. Will sighed. This was so unfair. The kid was exhausted and refused to let himself rest so he wouldn’t hurt anyone. “Nico, you can’t do that to yourself. It wasn’t your fault…”  
“I still did it anyway! While I was sleeping.” Nico countered Will.   
“Yeah, because you were too tired to even realize what was happening. That’s exactly why you have to rest, so it won’t happened again.” Will retorted. He actually wasn’t sure if sleeping will help control that aspect of Nico’s power, but he couldn’t let the younger demigod deprived himself of much needed sleep any longer. “Look, I need to check you up, is that alright? I have to have an idea of how you’re doing after using you power last night.”  
Nico hesitated, but slowly nodded after a moment. Will looked to Reyna and Hedge almost as if to see if they would allow him near Nico, the two seemed very protective of the boy. He went around the bed to Nico’s left side, Reyna had made no movement to leave Nico’s right side, her hand still resting on his arm and apparently Nico was fine with it.   
Will approach the son of Hades and looked for room in his exposed body to place his hand to evaluate him with his powers. Coach Hedge’s brown paste was everywhere. He then looked at Nico’s face, who still showed hesitation and doubts, like he still wasn’t sure Will had forgiven him for what happened. Will then smiled and lifted his hands, directing them to Nico’s face. “Let me know if this is uncomfortable, but it seems that’s only part of you not covered in this healing…. Mud?”  
Nico actually gave a small smile at that, hearing Hedge huff behind Will. But then he tensed a bit. Will’s hands were each on the side of his head, almost touching his cheeks, Will was holding them there, waiting for Nico’s permission to touch him. Nico appreciated that wait and gave the smallest of nods. Will placed his hands on both his cheeks. Nico felt them go warm, if from Will’s touch or from blood rushing to them he wasn’t sure. Reyna was trying her best and failing miserably to hide a little smirk. He assumed his cheeks were indeed red by now.   
Will focused his powers, he was really eager to know how much Nico’s powers had affected the overall health state of the son of Hades. He was surprise to find the shadows and darkness still there, but feeling a bit more calm? Would that be the word? They weren’t as agitated as they had been the day before. Nor did it felt like Nico’s body was in bigger danger of fading like it had been when they met before the battle. He let go a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Maybe using his powers yesterday had used up a bit of all the shadows and darkness inside him and now they were silently recovering. Will still wanted them gone or at least less of them inside Nico, but to find them “well behaved” would have to do for now.   
He looked at Nico’s face and for a moment just stared at his eyes. Nico was looking at Will, waiting for his opinion. Will shook himself out of it, he could keep staring at Nico’s eyes for hours if he had the time (and Nico’s permission) to do so. He had thought he had a small crush on the son of Hades for quite a while now, since he saw Nico during the battle of Manhattan and them during the few days he had stayed at camp after said battle. He had been sad when he heard the demigod had left camp, but thought his crush would soon leave eventually. Being so close to Nico now and feeling so worried for him made Will be sure his crush hadn’t gone anywhere, it was still there. Which made him even more resolute to help Nico.   
“Your condition seems better than it was last night regarding the effects your powers had on your body, but the shadows are still inside you, though much less active than they were, so that’s good news, right?” Will said brightly, hoping that would give Nico some relief.   
Nico looked Will in the eyes again and just said “Does that mean I can have my face back?” Will just then noticed he was still cupping Nico’s cheeks. It was his turn to go red in the face while immediately removing his hands from where he wouldn’t actually mind keeping them. He heard a stifled laughter behind him and felt like kicking Hedge’s leg. Reyna’s smirk had turned to a full amused smile. Nico was just trying to not blush even more.   
“Well, I think Hedge’s healing is really having a good effect on you, but I would like to use some of my healing powers as well, just to speed your recovery up a bit, is that ok?” Will try to keep his voice steady after being so flustered.   
“Yeah, I guess.” Nico answered. “Won’t you need them for the others? Are they all awake already? Reyna assured me they were fine, but still, won’t they need any healing?”  
“They are all fine Nico, don’t worry. It was just a memory, it was a bit overwhelming, that’s why we passed out, but still it was just a memory, no one suffered any permanent damage.” Will assured him. He saw Nico shift uncomfortably and open and close his mouth, like he wanted to ask something.   
“What was it?” He finally asked.   
“Huh?” Will questioned  
Reyna and Hedge looked at each other. They had discovered a whole lot about Nico when they had been hit by those waves, and they knew the demigod would hate to have so many people find out as much like that, without him wanting them to actually know.   
“You said it was just a memory, as in, only one? What was it?”Nico explained.   
“Oh.” Will looked sad. “It was of the Titans and Giants escorting you in Tartarus towards the Doors of Death and then the twin Giants placing you inside the vase.” Will hesitated, but he thought he should be honest about all of it. “Also when Minos showed up. And when finally you were rescued.”  
Nico shrunk into himself, but seemed relieved. Whatever other memories he could’ve unleashed he seemed to think that wasn’t the worse it could have been. Will notice Reyna and Hedge relax visibly too, as if they also knew it could’ve been a lot worse.


	9. Assumptions is the mother of all Disasters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lack of communicating ability is quite unnerving at times.

Will waited a few moments to see if Nico had any other questions about last night, when the boy remained quiet he continued “And you need to sleep Nico, you’re exhausted, your body and mind are, and without rest you won’t recover any time soon”  
At that Nico tensed again. He didn’t want to sleep. He had only drifted in and out of sleep because Hedge had added something to his natural healing gunk that made him sleepy, but he was fighting it whenever he could and wouldn’t allow himself to have any deep sleep. What if he did it again? What if the memory that escaped him was of Tartarus, of seeing Tartarus for what it really was? Of all the horror he saw there, of all the fear and helplessness he had felt down there? He had knocked all those demigods with only the memory of being walked out of that hell and placed in the vase, what would happened if the same thing happened, an attack like that, so dense and focused, different from the less specific ones Nico had used it in Croatia and against Bryce; and it carried a memory like seeing Tartarus face? He feared it, it was paralyzing fear. He could destroy someone’s mind with that, his mind was almost lost down there, he couldn’t risk doing it to someone else. 

“I can’t sleep. I can’t risk having that happened again and another memory, a much worse memory, escape from me. I fear what would happen if they saw what I saw down in Tartarus in such an intense and detailed way. It might destroy someone Will.” Nico almost whispered.   
Will felt like ice had been injected into his veins. Just the thought of being through such a memory and feelings of being in Tartarus was enough to make him ran cold with fear. The little he saw and felt during Nico’s escort out of that place had been enough, he never wanted to see any more of it. 

He immediately felt bad and hated himself for thinking that. He had seen a memory. Nico had lived it. And he had seen less than a tenth of what Nico had been through.   
“I won’t let you keep doing that Nico. You need to sleep and rest. But I have an idea!” He said hastily when he saw Nico opening his mouth to protest. “Piper.” Will simply said. Nico cocked his head to the side in a way that made Will want to call him adorable. “She was helping with the shadows, she had almost made them go back inside you when one of my siblings came in and pretty much ruined everything, but with the best of all intentions. Anyway, she could use her charmspeak to help you sleep without fearing it would happen again, would you let us give that a try?”

Nico considered the idea for a while. “Only if she’s not too freak out. I don’t want to force anyone to come here if they are afraid of me.”  
Will smiled again and said he would go talk to her. When he left the room Hazel was up on her feet and questioning him about her brother. Apparently she was in the room when she got here, but she knew Nico might feel overwhelmed with so many people inside his small room, so she patiently waited for news outside, since there was nothing in the healing department she could do for him. 

“He’s better than I expected, but there still some work to be done. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of him.”Will assured her. Hazel visibly relaxed after hearing that. Will was happy to see once again such concern for Nico. The demigod might’ve felt alone for so long, but he surely wasn’t alone now.  
He walked towards the sickbay, where the others were still waiting for news on Nico. When he got there he saw his sister Kayla checking up on the 5 demigods. She saw Will, nodded curtly and continue to check Clarisse’s vitals, though the daughter of Ares wasn’t making it easy by loudly declaring she was perfectly fine and fit for battle. Will had learned his siblings had been too afraid to go near Nico after the events of the night before. It had made him angry and disappointed at first, but he knew they didn’t understand what was happening with the son of Hades and that made them even more scared, an illness they had no idea how to cure or help with. Seeing that Kayla was at least trying to make things better made him feel thankful, and maybe seeing both of them back in the infirmary would made the other healers less scared to come back. Though most would still be at the big house, where the wounded evacuees had been placed.   
The five, plus Kayla asked almost at the same time how was Nico. Will gave him his report, explained that he seemed to be better, but that he refused to sleep and told them of his idea, looking at Piper while he spoke the last part, trying to determine if the daughter of Aphrodite was up to the task.   
Piper had a determined look in her eyes and agreed to help as soon as Will finished talking, the son of Apollo again feeling the relief of having the help Nico needed.   
“I’m coming with you two.” Jason said.   
“I’m not sure that would help Jason, the room is small, Nico might feel cornered if a lot of people go in there at once.” Will said.  
“I know, if he seems uncomfortable I’ll leave, I just want to see him and talk to him for a bit, maybe show him we are all concerned?” Jason replied. Will nodded, it wasn’t a bad idea. 

What Jason wanted also was to apologize to Nico. He felt horrible for what he had said and did on the day Percy told them about Nico’s imprisonment. He felt low and ashamed. If it had been up to his and Leo’s opinion, they might not have gone to rescue the son of Hades, the time it would take to re-route the Argus, go to Nico and then get back on track had seemed to valuable at the time; and he didn’t trust the son of Hades at all at that moment, making his reasoning cold and distant. In the end it was Piper pointing out that Nico was the one who held the keys to the Doors of Death that convinced Jason they actually needed to rescue him. Gods, he felt so ashamed. How could he have even considered leaving Nico to his fate inside that vase? It had seemed so important to continue the quest at that time, what was the life of one demigod against the whole world?   
He would give anything to go back in time and punch his past self in the face for not wanting to go and rescue Nico. And he felt he had to apologize, not just to Nico, but to Hazel as well, for being the jerk he had been back then. 

Will, Piper and Jason went to Nico’s room. They briefly greeted Hazel, they had talked to her when she arrived, and entered the room.   
Nico seemed surprise but not troubled by all the people coming into his room. He again looked into the new arrivals eyes, as if trying to see what was going on in their heads. Will’s eyes just conveyed sincere concern about him. Piper’s eyes were kind and focused, like she was dead set in helping him whatever way she could. 

Jason made eye contact with Nico briefly, Nico saw what look like discomfort in them and something else he could not determine, because Jason cut the contact and looked at his feet. Nico felt his stomach drop. He thought of all of them Jason would be the one to most likely forgive him for what had happened, since he had been there before and had tried to show to Nico he wanted to be Nico’s friend. To see him not even being able to look him in the eyes deeply hurt Nico. He knew this time the shadows and darkness had been worse and more detailed in sharing Nico’s experience, but it hadn’t been the worst of all Nico had been through. Nico personally though that though the strength of the attack apparently had been much greater than the first one Jason had been subjected to at the same time the first one had been worse because of all the memories it had contained and had hit Jason like a boulder to the face. It seemed that this might’ve been one to many for Jason. Maybe he thought it wasn’t worth so much trouble to be friend with the son of Hades. Nico felt sadness for thinking that, but he also thought he couldn’t blame Jason. Being friends with Nico apparently came with too many risks to be worth it. He saw Jason’s face turn angry for a moment, then the son of Jupiter took a few breaths and lifted his head. Nico change his focus to Piper and avoided looking at Jason again, not wanting to anger him anymore than he had already did. 

Jason on the other hand, had diverted his eyes when Nico caught them because he felt he couldn’t honestly look into Nico’s eyes without feeling the shame and guilt eating at him and he didn’t want Nico to see them so soon and get caught up in the meaning of it. He wanted to talk to Nico about what had happened, but standing in front of the demigod covered in brown mud, looking so tired and thin, made Jason feel even worse about himself. After all that kid had been put through he still carried the statue of Athena to a camp he was sure despised him, almost killing himself in the process, and now had to face the consequences of his selfless act, which might still cost him a lot. Jason felt anger in him, for all the unfairness of the situation, he presses his lips together, trying to hide his feelings so as to not get in the way of Nico’s treatment. Maybe coming now to Nico’s room had been a bad idea. He was all over the place with his emotions. But he also did want to see how Nico was doing and show him he cared for the son of Hades. He tried to calm himself, took a few breaths and lifted his head. Nico was avoiding looking at him. 

Piper was talking to Nico, explaining she was going to use charmspeak to convince Nico it was okay to sleep and that nothing would happened, hoping that would make whatever shadows were inside of him to settle down. Nico was opened to try it, he was feeling very tired.   
Reyna got up and positioned herself by the bed’s end, Will by her side, both in reach of Nico if he needed them. Hedge was still making more brown paste, but with a vigilant eye on the whole situation. Piper settled herself beside Nico’s bed, Jason next to her. 

Piper starting talking, Nico could feel the effect of the charmspeak. At first he tried to fight it, it was his instincts after all. The Piper gently placed her hand on his, waited to see his reaction and kept her hand there when Nico didn’t pull his hand away. She continued talking, telling him he was going to sleep deeply and peacefully, that there was really nothing to fear, that his shadows and darkness wouldn’t come out of him this time, that they were in fact retrieving to a small corner inside of him and going to sleep themselves. Nico opened himself to the power of her charmspeak, feeling himself relax bit by bit as Piper spoke. When she mentioned his shadows retrieving he actually felt what seemed like a second sink underneath his skin just shifting and folding itself away. It made him feel a rush in his gut and goosebumps on his skin, he shivered from the feeling. And he saw it.   
The moment Nico shivered Jason involuntarily grabbed Piper’s arm just above her elbow and made the slightest movement to pull her back, as if expecting to have to put himself in front of her or pull her behind him to protect her from something. It had been a small movement, something that might go unnoticed if Nico hadn’t been used to look for such signs. The shiver might have made Jason thing Nico’s body was about to go haywire again and launch another attack. 

Nico was angry. He was furious. He had ruined everything again, hadn’t he? Even the people who were trying to help him were afraid of him. He felt a wave of hatred directed towards himself wash over him. And then he deflated. Maybe it had been to much to hope for. His father had said it himself, his children were so rarely happy. Maybe children of Hades were meant to be unhappy, Nico considered. Thank the gods Hazel was a daughter of Pluto, she had a fighting chance to be happy, to fit in. Nico now felt sure he didn’t. And he wasn’t going to force someone who obviously feared him to be around him. 

“Leave.” He said.  
Piper stuttered and stop talking, not sure of what had happened. “What?” she asked  
“ Leave me be. Get out of this room, both of you.” Nico said, his voice cold and seething with the anger he felt towards himself.   
“Nico, I don’t understand, we are trying to help, it was working….” Piper began but Nico interrupted her.  
“If you are afraid of me then you can’t help me. And Jason is clearly afraid and afraid for you, so it would be much better for me if the both of you left. Now.”   
Piper looked down and saw Jason’s hand on her arm, she hadn’t even noticed it. Jason’s face on the other hand had fell when Nico accused him of being afraid. Was he? He saw Nico shivered and thought indeed that he might be going to fail to control his powers again, he had reached for Piper out of reflexe, but he didn’t feel afraid of Nico. He opened his mouth to say so but Nico beat him to the punch   
“Get out now!” The son of Hades said, the temperature of the room seemed to cool down a bit. Will stepped forward with Reyna.   
“Maybe you should leave, just for now, let him calm down a bit” Will urged, Reyna nodded in agreement.   
Piper looked crestfallen. She wanted to help Nico. But she felt the change in temperature and knew if she insisted she might make it worse. She grabbed Jason’s hand, who wanted to protest, and pulled him towards the door.   
“And Jason” Nico said. Jason spin around to look at Nico, hoping for a chance to explain himself, but got the exact opposite. “Don’t come back.” Nico finished.


	10. Do not disobey the satyr

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I like to think that after all Nico did to make sure not only the statue of Athena got to camp but that Coach got there in time to the birth of his son, Hedge would be very protective of the demigod.

As soon as the couple was out of the room Hazel was on them, questioning what had happened. Reyna and Will looked at each other, still standing inside the room. “We will try to talk to him, it was working, but right now I think he has to calm down first.” Reyna said before closing the door. 

Piper looked so sad, she was sure she would’ve been able to help Nico sleep in peace if she hadn’t been interrupted. She looked at Jason with a questioning stare, Hazel still waiting for an answer.  
“I’m sorry.” Jason said, his voice heavy with sorrow. “I did something stupid in there, Nico thinks I’m afraid of him, but I’m not, it was involuntary, like hearing a car’s horn and just tensing up preparing to react, I didn’t mean to make him think I fear him. The truth is…” He looked at Hazel for this part “I wanted to apologize. To him and you, Hazel. When we had that meeting about Nico’s situation, about him being their prisoner and bait to us, I was hesitant to go help him. I didn’t trust him nor wanted to use that much time to go rescue him. I shouldn’t have done that. I should’ve been the second after you to agreed we had to save him. I’m so sorry I disappointed the both of you.” 

Hazel was surprised by his words, her golden eyes wide. She then took a shaking breath, looking a bit teary eyed and said “Thank you, Jason. That means a lot.” She wiped her eyes on her hoodie sleeve. “But what happened in there? Is Nico ok?”  
“I think I let him down. I thought he was going to lose control again and I reached for Piper. I didn’t mean to, but it looked as if I was afraid he would hurt her. He told us to leave him alone.” His head was so low Hazel felt sorry for him.  
“Give him a moment to calm down, we can explain to him it was a misunderstanding, he’ll understand it.” Hazel said, trying to sound optimistic. But she knew her brother and if he felt certain of something and made a decision about it, she knew it would be hard to convince him to go back in that decision. 

Inside the room the mood wasn’t much better.  
“Why did you kick them out?” Will asked. He was frustrated. Nico was relaxing, a little more and he was sure the dark haired demigod would have gone to sleep and recover much faster. “They want to help you Nico, they care about you.”

Nico looked him right in the eyes, Will saw a resolution in them he had seen once already, when Nico seemed determined to shadow travel to Octavian’s tent and try to stop the war at any cost.  
“I won’t subject people who fear me to be around me. Jason couldn’t even look me in the eyes, I saw how uncomfortable he was when he came in, and how angry. He even thought I was going to lose it again and felt he needed to protect Piper from me! She was the first thing I saw when I got out of that damn vase, and Jason thought I was going to hurt her!” Nico’s voice faltered a bit at the end. He tried to take a breath to calm down, but even that came out as unstable.  
Reyna and Hedge exchanged worried looks. “Maybe you misread him Nico, maybe he was just worried when he came in and didn’t know how to show it, you know we Romans can be a bit stiff and awkward in showing our feelings.” Reyna was trying to calm the situation  
“After all this time Reyna, believe me, I know when people are uncomfortable around me.” Nico replied bitterly. No one had anything to say to that. “Could you all just give me some time alone? I just need to be alone for a while.” Nico said quietly, looking down at his hands on his lap. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, you…” Will started but Coach Hedge interrupted him. “Yeah, sure kid. We’ll go get some more supplies, maybe some food for us and you, should take about 20 minutes or so, that’s good?” Nico just nodded. 

The look Hedge gave the other two left no room for debate. Either they would leave walking or be kicked out by the satyr.  
What Hedge had seen, from his position closer to Nico, was a shine to the boy’s eyes. He was barely holding it together. So if he wanted some space to feel the tinniest bit better, Hedge would make sure he got it.  
The three were soon out and the door closed Nico took a shaking breath and let his emotions pour out. He was so tired of hiding them. Even with people who now cared about him, he wasn’t good at dealing with his emotions. Too long hiding them, avoiding and denying them had made Nico almost incapable of dealing with them. He was good at burying them, that he could do with ease after so much practice. His rage at himself and his ability to screw things up came back. He let tears of hate fall. Then tears of sorrow, for having made someone who had wanted to be his friend scared of him. Scared that Nico would hurt his girlfriend because he lacked control over his powers. He then cried from pure exhaustion, not being able to tell what he felt anymore except how tired he was. This was supposed to be his new beginning, his second chance. But to see Jason react like that, what could he expect from the other campers? Who had already feared him before this event? He felt hopeless. He wished Hestia was here. The goddess had a calming presence to Nico. He started to calm down, aware he wouldn’t have much time to get himself together.

If it wasn’t for his 3 day promise and the certainty he wouldn’t survive the journey, Nico would have shadow travel to the Underworld, to rest somewhere he knew he couldn’t hurt anyone. Everybody there was already dead or was immortal and wouldn’t suffer with his memories.  
Just when he thought about his father’s realm he heard Hade’s voice in his head “Come to me. After your promise is kept, come to me.” That was it. Then silence.  
Nico wondered if his tired mind had played a trick on him and as he lost consciousness, being too tired to resist anymore, he decided it didn’t matter. Trick or not he would go, he was welcomed there at least. And truth be told, he was afraid to face the other campers.


	11. Can we talk?

Maybe due to Piper’s charmspeak or because he was indeed to damn tired, Nico finally got to sleep. For 11 hours straight. Reyna, Hazer, Will and Hedge taking turns by his side, he was never alone. He didn’t faze out once, and Will was so happy he skipped when walking the infirmary corridor. 

When he finally woke up Hazel was watching over him. “ Good afternoon. You slept for quite a while, I hope you’re feeling better.” She said with an honest smile. She was truly happy to see her brother finally getting some rest and having so many people worried about him. 

“I feel rested.” Nico informed. “And hungry actually.”  
Hazel laughed and reach for the nightstand by Nico’s bed. She gave him a sandwich and a bottle of water. Nico’s eyes were wide. The sandwich was huge.   
“Will?” He asked  
“Will” Hazel confirmed. “I like him, he is very attentive towards you, he check up every hour, taking notes and being very careful not to disturb you.” 

Nico could feel his cheeks warming up. He hadn’t told Hazel about it, he was ready to, but now was not the time. He suspected she knew or was suspicious of it, her comment making more so. 

“So, how are you feeling?” She gave him a way out. He breathed in relief.   
“Much better actually, rested at least. How’s is everybody else?” He tensed a bit when making that question. Hazel noticed, of course she did, and reached for his hand, which he didn’t pull away but she never would expect him to, she was to one person that since the first day they met could initiate physical contact with Nico without negatives reactions. She didn’t do it too often, not wanting to abuse such privilege, but she knew when it was time to do it. 

Nico squeezed her hand. “Everyone is fine, completely recovered and with no permanent damage, you don’t have to worry.” She offered him a small smile, then continued in a more careful tone “But some are still here, in the sickbay, not that they are injured of anything of the kind!” she hastily added when Nico tensed up “They just wanted to be around to have news of you. Will, Reyna, Coach Hedge, Piper, Annabeth, Percy and…Jason.”   
Nico looked down at his lap. “Why is he still here? Making sure I don’t hurt Piper maybe?”   
Hazel lowered her head to make eye contact with Nico. “Hey, look at me.” Only because it was his sister did Nico obeyed. “I don’t think what happened in here with Jason is what you think happened. You two should talk about it. He has things to say to you.”

None of which I would want to hear, for sure- NIco thought 

“Don’t do that Nico. Don’t think bad of a situation that might not be what you assume it was. Jason is your friend, believe me on that.” Hazel urged her brother, certainty in her voice and Nico wondered how was it that she could understand him so well. “Please talk to him? Would you do that? For me if not for yourself?” She gave him her best puppy eyes, and with her eyes that was not only easy it was impossible to refuse. 

Nico sighed. “Fine, but there won’t be much to say Hazel, so don’t get your hopes up, please.” He warned his sister. She just smiled and almost jumped out of her chair to go get Jason. Nico didn’t have time to tell her it didn’t have to be right now, but he doubted she would have listened anyway. His sister might be smaller than him and look quite fragile, but she was a child of the Underworld, daughter of one of the Big Three, and when she wanted she was an unstoppable force of nature, and Nico loved her even more for it. 

When Hazel reached the beds where everyone was sitting and chatting while waiting for news the talking stopped, all eyes on her.   
“He woke up and is feeling much better, he even asked of food.” She said with a big smile on her face. Everyone in the room sighed in relief and there were smiles on their faces, Will’s and Reyna’s the biggest of them, though the Praetor tried to covered hers a bit.   
“Can we see him?” Piper asked.   
“He actually agreed to see Jason first.” Hazel informed. There was some silence. Jason looked surprised. Piper nudge him the stomach. He jumped to his feet and started to walk to Nico’s room, feeling really nervous.   
The others fell back to small talks, waiting their turns to go see the son of Hades. Will watching the room’s door like a hawk, barely paying any attention to what was being said around him. 

Jason knocked on the door. He waited for some response but got none so he just opened the door and walked in. Nico was chewing his sandwich, which Jason was amazed to see was already a third gone, and he had seen Will bring that monster of a food. He didn’t think Nico would make it to half of it. By the way he was now biting a big chunk of it, he was going to be done with that thing in 10 minutes.  
Or maybe he was just trying to keep his mouth full so he wouldn’t have to talk, because he barely looked at Jason and then looked down, focusing on chewing his food. 

Jason sighed and walked to Nico’s bed, sitting on the chair next to it. He tried to look Nico in the eyes, but the son of Hades wouldn’t lift his head and meet his gaze, so he took a deep breath, braced himself and started talking. 

“Look, Nico, first of all I want to make something very clear. I am not afraid of you. Understand? I know my reaction might have told otherwise, but it was just a reflexe, it was unintentional and doesn’t mean I fear you. I would trust you with my life, as I have already, remember?” He was referring not only to the chalice of poison he took from Nico as a sign of trust, but as well as fighting by Nico’s side during the battle in camp, because he knew Nico had his back. “I know it seemed that way, but I assure you I am not afraid of you and I am your friend and wish for you to see me that way too.”

“You should be.” Nico said quietly. 

“What?” Jason thought he misheard. 

“You should be afraid of me.” Nico repeated. 

“Are you kidding me? Why? Everyone know you didn’t mean to…” Jason started

“That’s exactly why!” Nico raised his voice a little. “Without meaning to I put all of you unconscious on the floor plus half a dozen other demigods! And you and I know that wasn’t even my worst memory, by far.” Jason held a flinched at that, remembering some of the things he saw in quick flashes and the horrible feelings attached to them in Croatia. 

“I saw your face Jason, I saw how you couldn’t even look me in the eyes after that night. You were uncomfortable to be near me, you were angry and I don’t blame you. It’s the second time my powers lash out on you and I wouldn’t want to risk a third either. So I’m saying to you, you don’t need to force yourself to be my friend. Don’t take that as a duty you must fulfill. I have been on my own, with no one to count on, for years. I can deal with it. But I don’t want to be near someone who says they’re my friend but can’t even look me in the eyes or who fear I’ll lose control over my powers any minute. I’m releasing you from those duties you apparently took upon yourself. Feel free to leave now with no burden on your conscious.” Nico said with sadness but determination in his voice. 

Jason was speechless for a moment. His brain processing everything that sad, lonely and angry kid had just said to him.   
“No.” He said, and sounded absolute in his resolve. “You don’t get to tell me to leave or that I was just trying to befriend you as a mission. You don’t get to push me away Nico, I’m not taking it.” Nico looked surprised, he had expected the opposite, to Jason to be relieved and just leave him alone for good. He opened his mouth to protest but it was the blonde’s turn to talk so he didn’t give Nico a chance. “I am your friend! Do you hear me? I am NOT afraid of you. I have been in the past, I admit it, but I am not now. I want you to be better, to heal and be happy. Isn’t that what friends do? I want us to hang out together, maybe practice our sword fighting once you’re better and Will releases you from here. I want to watch so many movies with you because you will be seeing them for the first time and it will be so funny to see how you react to them. You don’t get to say I befriended you out of duty! I won’t accept it. If you tell me we are not friends it will be because you don’t want to be my friend, not the other way around and I’m making that perfectly clear.”

Nico just stared at Jason like he had grown a second head. He never had someone fight him to be his friend. The situation totally alien to him he didn’t know what to do or say. So he just stared at Jason with eyes that scream he didn’t believe what he was hearing. 

It was Jason’s turn to lower his head. “And there’s something else I have to tell you, and if after that you decide I’m no good to be your friend I’ll understand.” Nico couldn’t even phantom what could make Jason say that, the son of Jupiter continued. “I… When…This is hard. Ok, here it goes. When Percy dreamt about you in the vase and that the giants were holding you somewhere in Rome he told us at a meeting and Hazel immediately wanted to plan your rescue.” Jason felt his face getting warm, he must’ve been red all over it. Nico just quietly listening. He had to tell him, he needed to apologize. “I… I was against it.” He finally blurted out. He risked a quick glance at Nico, but the raven haired teen was just looking at him, his expression neutral, his eyes not revealing anything. Jason continued “I didn’t trust you Nico. You had been traveling between both camps without telling anyone, I thought you could be a spy, that you might be aiding one of the camps to prepare for war by giving them information about the other, or whatever other stupid reason. I didn’t trust you and so I opposed the rescue mission. I thought the quest couldn’t be delayed to save a demigod, with the world at risk it didn’t seem worth it to me to get out of our way to save you.”

“You came because of the Doors of Death, didn’t you? You thought I, as the son of the Lord of the dead, would know where it was.” Nico said his reasoning out loud. 

Jason just nodded and said after a moment of silence “I am so sorry, Nico. I am so sorry and ashamed. If I could go back in time I would be the first to suggest a plan to rescue you. But I didn’t, and for that I was so ashamed and angry at myself, I wanted to apologize as soon as I woke up from that memory, but as was still so mad at myself I couldn’t even look you in the eyes.” Had Jason been looking at Nico he would have seen the boy finally relax. He was mad at himself, not at Nico for putting him through another trip to horrible memory lane. Nico finally took a deep breath of relief. 

“I understand if you hate me now and don’t want to be friends with someone who would have left you in that vase, but I am truly so very sorry Nico.” Jason finished in a small voice, his head still bowed.

“Jason” Nico called him and the blonde finally lifted his head. “It’s okay.” Was all Nico said, with the tinniest of smiles on his face and what seemed to be relief and happiness in his eyes. Jason felt the grip that was squeezing his heart and lungs since walking into to room loosen up and leave. He took a deep breath and just asked “What?”

Nico gave a humorless laugh. “You think I didn’t think the same? That you should’ve continued with the quest without wasting time to rescue me? At that time I was sure no one was coming, I knew it in fact. The fact that you, today, would have risked the quest and gone to my rescue even if I didn’t have anything to offer that could help in your mission makes me believe you truly want to be my friend. You didn’t have to tell me all of that, but you did, which shows how much you regretted it and would act differently if it was the case again.” Jason felt relief flood through him, he had expected Nico to chase him out of the room after hearing the truth. He was afraid to believe what he was hearing, but also feeling so glad for it. Nico finally looked him in the eyes and simply said “Thank you my friend.” And he meant it.


	12. Like talking to a wall

Things in the infirmary were getting better, but outside of it, they weren’t so positive.   
The campers affected by Nico’s memory were mostly sympathetic by what the son of Hade’s had gone through, some even pitied him (which Nico would certainly hate if he ever knew), but still they avoided going anywhere near the infirmary. If they had to go by it, they would try to put as much distance they could between themselves and the building. No one was saying anything out loud, but the six that went to Nico’s “rescue” plus Reyna, Hazel and Hedge noticed the behavior and were worried about it. 

“If Nico sees this he won’t stay at camp anymore” Jason said. “He final agreed to give it a chance at making it a home for him and now this can make him mind for good.”  
“He could come to camp Jupiter” Reyna suggested, and seeing Will’s body reaction to tense up and open his mouth she quickly added “ If he wants to, and it can be a temporary thing, just until everyone calms down here and stop avoiding him.”  
Will was sad to think that might actually be a good idea. 

“No.” Hazel surprised everyone. “If Nico wants to go to camp Jupiter, of course he can, but he shouldn’t have to go only so that people here won’t be scared of him, it’s not fair, especially after all he did for this camp in not one, but two wars.” She sounded angry. 

“I agree with you Hazel” Annabeth offered. “Me too” Percy and Piper said together.   
“But it might be harmful for him to get out of the infirmary and see he’s fear are true and everyone is avoiding him. We need to talk to the other campers, maybe ask Chiron to help too.” Annabeth suggested. 

Every one nodded. It could work. If they explained it had been an accident, it happened because Nico was so tired he lost control but now he was better and it wouldn’t happen again, maybe the other campers would lose their nervousness around the son of Hades. 

Easier said than done, of course.   
Of all the cabins the Are’s one was the most efficient to be dealt with, particularly because Clarisse gather her siblings around and forbade them from being afraid of a single son of Hades, for all the gods sake. It was weird to witness, but amazing to see it work. She talked to them as if commanding them into battle, stating the fact that Nico was on their side and not to be feared unless someone provoked him, which in that case she expected said person to take on the consequences for such a foolish action on his or her own. Her siblings simply agreed to the terms of Clarisse’s instructions and went back to business, none going extra miles to avoid the infirmary anymore. 

Annabeth tried reasoning with her siblings. The hard part was, as children of Athena, they would reason back.   
“You said he did it because he lost control, well, what’s keeping him from losing it again and launching another attack?” one of her sisters shot back.  
“He was facing extreme conditions, he was weakened by all the shadow traveling with that enormous statue of your mother, plus two other passengers, he had been fighting monsters all the way during that journey, plus he was fighting during the battle in camp, you could cut him some slack for being too damn tired to control his every power, can’t you?” Percy answered, making even Annabeth impressed with this demonstration of speech. 

“Okay, I get that and I’m sorry for what he went through and grateful for all he did for us, but it still doesn’t answer the question, Percy. What will keep him from losing control again?” the same daughter of Athena questioned, and the others nodded in agreement. Percy looked at Annabeth, waiting for an answer, but truth be told, they were just telling what they hope would happen, that if Nico rested enough he would keep his powers in check, but they weren’t certain about it, just hopeful. 

“We can’t guarantee that he won’t lose it again” Annabeth admitted “But we will do all we can to help him get a better grip of his powers to make sure it doesn’t happen again. All we ask is that you don’t shut him out because of this one slip. You all know how hard it is to be a demigod, you don’t need to make it even harder for Nico by mistreating him or treating him like he’s a danger to us.”   
Her siblings looked at each other, as if consulting silently on their cabin’s leader reasoning.   
Most agree to give Nico some space, but not to avoid him like it had been done before and see how it would go from there. Annabeth sighed, her brothers and sisters were rational people, once they saw the data (which in this case was going to be Nico not losing control over his powers again after resting, she hoped) they would consider him safe territory to interact with. Until then, they would have to be given some time. 

The Haephastus cabin was a lot easier than expected. Jason had barely explained what happened when Nyssa just said “We don’t care he lost control over his powers. Heck, every now and then we cause major explosions, some minor, and major, injuries and no one came to throw us out of camp for it, or treated us like we are a menace…. Which sometime I’m pretty sure we can be.” She added thoughtfully. “Any who, most of my siblings are too busy in their own mind creating new projects we really end up ignoring everyone once or twice, it’s not personal, we just get caught up in our creations. But don’t worry, no one is going to treat him any different than we treat the other cabins.” She finished with a smile.   
Jason wasn’t so sure he liked all that she said, but he was happy it had been so easy. 

Demeter’s cabin was a bit tricky. They were inclined to dislike anything associated with Hades due to their mother’s feeling toward the God of the Underworld. They simply said they wouldn’t treat him any different than what they did before, and that would have to suffice.   
Hypnos’ cabin was hard not because of how they felt about Nico, but because the demigods kept falling asleep while Will tried to talk to them. In the end Clovis, who was fighting to keep his eyes opened said “Don’t worry Will. I like Nico, we get along well, as much as it is possible when I drag him out of his dreams. I’ll call for a meeting during our sleep and talk to my siblings, though I really don’t think any of us have any problem accepting the son of Hades. We might be able to help find a better way to deal with his memories, after all, they are directly linked to the dreams.” He said in a sleepy voice, his head already falling and in less than 5 seconds he was snoring lightly.   
Will smiled. That had been a kind offer, one that might really help Nico. He felt confidence that the son of Hades would be welcomed to camp. 

Lou Ellen had talked to her cabin about it. She informed Will and the others some of her brothers and sisters were indeed a bit wary of Nico, but they would try to give him another chance, seeing that the son of Hades had already been through more than most demigods did.   
Travis and Connor Stoll were also okay with it, saying their siblings had been afraid after the incident, but had calmed down and were actually more interested in knowing if Nico could shadow travel in and out of a vault to “borrow” some items and leave no trace. Reyna and Will were not happy to hear that last part. 

But then there was the Aphrodite’s cabin. Amazingly it wasn’t even Drew who was causing trouble. It was the younger demigods. They were too naïve and aloof to bother trying to understand what Nico had gone through. Most of the older demigods could process what had happened to the son of Hades and understand that he had lost control and didn’t mean to hurt anyone. But the younger Aphrodite’s children were just adamant in their belief Nico was a threat and shouldn’t be allowed to stay in camp, so that he wouldn’t hurt anyone again.   
Piper almost had to use charmspeak on herself to calm down. “I am sorry for what that boy has gone through, I really am, but you can’t blame a bunch of kids for not understanding it” Drew told her. Piper tried, she really did tried, to reason with her younger siblings, but they wouldn’t budge. They were scared of the son of Hades and wouldn’t risk going near him.   
The problem wasn’t even that about 10 kids were afraid of Nico, the problem was that those 10 kids were children of an influential Goddess and capable of influencing others. And they did.   
They would gather the younger demigods from other cabins and convincingly make them believe Nico could be a threat. They were kids, impressionable, they would listen and remember they had seen some demigods on the ground, taken down by the powers of the son of Hades so easily, so they became frightened.   
The cabin leaders and the older demigods would try to easy their fear, tell them it was misplaced, but the idea of a boggieman in the shape of a son of Hades had been created, and it grew roots on the minds of some demigods. 

“It’s just the young one! That’s not even half the camp, he won’t be affected by it. Will he?” Percy asked  
The seven, minos Hedge who was with Mellie and his son right now, were silent. It was true, those afraid of Nico were less than half the camp, but still he would notice for sure. Like he had told Reyna, he had learn to look for those signs long ago, by now he would see it the moment he stepped out of the infirmary in a day, and they knew it.


	13. I have to go

Nico woke up to his third and last day in the infirmary feeling better than he had in years. He was really amazed only sleep, decent and peaceful sleep, and 3 meals a day had made such a difference in so short time. Maybe he could get used to this, not being on the run every minute of his life, it was tempting. 

His father’s message still weighted on his mind. He would have to go to the Underworld as soon as possible. Though he didn’t feel like he needed to gain his father’s respect or affection (whichever an ancient God was able to give anyway) anymore, he still would like, or he thought he did, to have some relationship with the only parent he had. Hade’s showing up to him during his last quest had put the God of the Underworld in a new perspective to Nico. He still was somewhat distant, but seemed more… warm? Could that apply to someone like Hades? Deep down, when all been said and done, compare to all the other Gods, Hades was the one who seemed to care the most for his children; though that may be because he had so few to start with he actually saw some value in his offspring and felt he had at least some duties and responsibilities for them. Perhaps if he had had sired a few dozens (maybe even hundreds?) of sons and daughters through the thousands of years of his existence like Apollo or Aphrodite or Haephastus he wouldn’t feel the need to show any care for his children. 

Be as it may, Hades had changed his ways towards Nico after the War of Manhattan and Nico wasn’t going to complain about it. He had made his father proud on that day and earned his respect. In Portugal the God had showed how he and Nico had somethings in common, their sarcastic and dry sense of humor probably being one of them. Nico felt not exactly close, but closer to his father than he did before and he knew that no matter what, either in life or after it, he would be welcome in his father’s palace, he would always belong there whenever he decided to be there. Even with his stepmother not approving his existence 100%, Persephone had changed her manners towards her stepson a bit. She definitely wasn’t warm towards him, but she no longer looked at him like she was considering turning him into a dandelion and blowing him away, so, progress?  
He was still lost in thoughts about his father when the door opened and in came the brightest person in camp carrying a tray. Nico could swear that son of Apollo’s smile shined so much he should probably have moth bumping into his mouth at night. Or maybe it was just Nico’s mind making Will seem to shine. 

“How’s my most grumpy and delightful patient doing?” Will asked, knowing it would put Nico in a blustering mode.  
“Who the heck is delightful here?!” The son of Hades shot back

“Well, at least you agreed with the grumpy part.” Will laughed. Nico’s stomach made a looping movement that he wanted to say was caused by hunger. 

“I brought you breakfast and some natural healing herbs juice Coach Hedge cook up for you” the blonde said placing the tray on Nico’s lap. 

The food looked great, with scrambled eggs, fruits, wheat toast and ham (after two tries of bacon Nico had decided though it wasn’t bad it would never be a favorite of his), but the smelling brown greenish liquid resting in a cup made his appetite hault. 

“I am not drinking this concoction.” He stated.

“Hedge said it was to complement the healing he did on you, you must drink it di Angelo” 

“No. I rather turn to shadows.” Was Nico’s answer. 

He suddenly felt the bed shift and a warm hand on his cold right hand. He looked up from the tray to see Will sitting on his bed and looking at him with a serious and concerned face, his eyes still kind. 

“Please don’t say that again.” Will said with such emotion that Nico felt bad for what he said. “And please drink it, if it’s to make you get better, you have to. If not for you then for everyone that cares for you, for Hazel, for Jason, for Rayna, for Hedge, for me and everybody else.” After saying that Will looked down for a bit. Nico was struck silent. The son of Apollo had just said like it was obvious and completely normal and expected that he cared for Nico. Maybe as a patient? Though with all Will had done for him, from fighting to keep him in camp to healing him and risking his life on the night of the incident and still hanging around after that, NIco hoped he cared at least as a friend. 

“Alright, if it’s for you” Nico answered and thank the Gods the English language permitted him to say “you” without defining if it was just for Will or for all the ones Will had mentioned. 

Will looked back up and smiled his sunny smile. Nico picked up the glass with his left hand, his right still had a warm hand perched on top of it and Nico wasn’t complaining about it. He smelled the drink and that was a mistake, up close and personal that stuffed was even worse. He closed his eyes and started to gulp down the whole glass in one go. He felt like he was drinking mud with some extra taste to it. When he was done he opened his eyes to see Will staring at him with wide eyes. 

“What?” He demanded  
“Nothing. It’s just… that was a really big glass and you drank it all in less than 30 seconds. I hope you won’t throw up.”  
Nico’s stomach did feel heavier, he wondered if he would even be able to eat his breakfast. He was going to at least have some eggs to take that mud taste from his mouth. Gross.  
“Yeah, well, it was all or nothing.” Nico said. He had to pull his hand away to use the knife and fork and Will seemed sad about the loss of contact for a moment. 

Nico started to eat and he thought he might just have all the food anyway, maybe he had delayed hunger from the years he didn’t eat much. Will was still there, sitting on the side of his bed.

“Don’t you have other patients Solace? Or do you have to monitor me eating?” Nico questioned.  
The son of Apollo might have blushed a bit and ran a hand through his mop of blonde hair. 

“Well, the infirmary is empty actually, so you’re the only patient here for now and I’m the only one on duty since we don’t have anyone to treat here.” Will said

“Wait, what? When I came in a few days ago you had almost 12 demigods in your care, all of them were discharged in two days? Your healing skills are better than I gave credit then.” Nico said in a light tone, but he saw Will fidgeting. “What?” He asked Will, and when he got no answer he asked again “What is it Solace?”

“Well, you see… There aren’t any patient here because we evacuated them on the night of the accident, it was better to have the infirmary in peace and quiet so you could properly rest.” Will tried to lie but saw in Nico’s eyes he wasn’t buying it “And because it would be safer for them, in case you lost control over your powers again. Which you haven’s so soon they will be brought back to the infirmary.”

“Soon after I leave the infirmary, you mean.” Nico finished the reasoning. It was true, he thought, it had been safer for them to be taken away from a demigod with dangerous powers he couldn’t control properly. But it still stung. The worry of what everyone would think of him came to his mind again. He had finally decided to give it a try, to make camp home, and now it could all go bad.

“Hey! Don’t think that!” Will’s voice snapped him out of his train of thought. “They are not afraid of you. Well, I won’t lie, some of the young ones are but it’s only because they don’t understand what you’ve been through. And they are terrified of Clarisse, so it’s really not exclusive to you.” He finished trying to light up the mood a bit. 

Nico nodded.  
“But I don’t blame them, Will. I hurt their friends or siblings, even if it was by accident, which make it even worse because it means it can happen again.” Will opened his mouth to say something but Nico cut him on in “I know, it wasn’t my fault, but it doesn’t change what happened. I’m a child of the Big Three, more powerful than most demigods, and I can’t keep my powers under control 100% of the time, that make me dangerous, whether you want to admit it or not Will.” Nico took a breath, he knew the next part would make the son of Apollo go mental if his track record said anything about his care for Nico “Which is why tomorrow, after I’m discharged from the three days promised, I’ll travel to my father’s reign.”

There was a 3 seconds pause and then Will’s brain caught up with the information he just heard. 

“The Hades you will! Well, no, exactly not the God I wanted! The Demeter you will!” The blonde said with determination. “You’re still in urgent need of rest and food Nico! Three days is nothing compare to how much you have to recover yet! And you can’t possibly be considering to use your powers to shadow travel to the Underwolrd! You would dissolve into darkness, you can’t do that!” Nico heard the genuine concern in Will’s voice and on the inside he felt a wave of relief and warmth, knowing the son of Apollo actually cared for him that much made him happy. But he didn’t let any of it show, otherwise this conversation might get harder. 

“I won’t be using my powers, my father knows of my condition, he will send someone to take me, as long as I’m the passenger on the journey the shadow traveling won’t use my powers, it won’t affect me. And I have a room there, it’s peaceful and quiet, I’ll rest while I’m there, I guarantee it.” 

“No! I don’t approve this idea! Not as your doctor even less so as a friend who cares about you” There it was again! Nico wanted to smile but held his muscles in place, now wasn’t the time for it. 

“My father summoned me Solace, I have to go. And I want to ask something of him.” Nico tried to explain to Will.

“What could you possibly need of him that can’t wait until you’re better enough not to faint from standing up?” Will asked.  
Nico ignored the last comment about fainting.  
“I need his help.” He said

“With what, that is so urgent?” Will urged

“With controlling my powers.” Nico answered, to which Will had no counter arguments. “I can’t keep losing control over them Solace. It’s the third time this has happened and it was worse than the other previous two. I can’t risk it happening again. What if it keeps escalating? What if the next time I trap someone in a memory of seeing Tartarus, his face, hearing his voice? I can’t risk it. If I am a risk for the other demigods here then I can’t stay here. So I need my father’s help, to learn how to use this powers of mine. Do you understand? It doesn’t mean I’m running again, but I do need to go away for a while.”

A few moments passed. Will’s face told of how he was searching for arguments, for reason to counter Nico’s logic, but he had none and he had to yeld.  
“Yeah, I understand.” He said in a small voice, almost disappointed. “I just don’t want you to go there and forget about where you belong and never come back. I don’t want you to forget about your friends here, that we will be waiting for you”

Nico finally let himself smile, too bad for Will he was looking down in defeat and didn’t see it.

Making a riskier move than poking a drakon with a stick, in Nico’s opion, the son of Hades hesitantly moved his hand and placed it on top of Will’s, for a moment, to get his attention. Will lifted his head so fast it made Nico dizzy. Nico started to lift his hand to take it away from Will but the blonde turned his own hand and grabbed the hand Nico was taking back, holding it lightly, giving Nico the chance to take it away if he wanted. Nico just let it rest in Will’s hand, the skeletons butterflies in his stomach doing a massive hip hop dance all around. 

“I won’t forget, I promise. I’ll come back once I know how to control my powers.” Nico said looking at his still uneaten breakfast.

“No, that won’t do, it could take weeks, maybe months for you to feel you have control over them, and that’s too long away. If you’re really going to the Underworld you have to promise me you’ll come back at least once a week for me to check you up, see how you are doing. And to have at least one day in the sun.” Will countered.  
Nico was impressed by the son of Apollo persistence and arguments to make him come to camp. 

“Alright.” Nico said. “I can’t promise I’ll come every week because time is hard to keep track in the Underworld, but I’ll do my best to come as often as possible.”  
Will smiled widely at that.

“Oh, one more thing.” Will said and gave Nico a mischievous smile.  
“What?” Nico asked with some concern

“You still have to tell Hazel, Reyna, Jason and Hedge about your travel plans.” 

Nico processed that information and could only think of one answer for it.  
“Oh, cazzo.”


	14. Well that wasn't so bad.

Telling the others had gone as expected. Hazel was so outraged the others didn’t even had to speak their minds about it.

“You will what?! Are you joking? Tell me you’re joking, Nico!” His sister was almost making Nico regret not sneaking away unseen, this was getting bigger than he anticipated. “There’s no way you’re going while you still need to recover. Please, you almost faded not 3 nights ago.” Hazel pleaded and Nico almost said he wouldn’t go anymore. He loved his sister more than anyone in the world, specially now that he had already realized what he thought was love for Percy was more of an intense infatuation mixed with hero admiration, perhaps it didn’t even came close to real love. But Hazel was someone who he would move mountains for, he would always love Bianca and miss her, but his relationship and bond with Hazel had grown stronger and he now couldn’t imagine his life without this kind, selfless, generous and, honestly, sometimes scary girl for a sister. 

“Hazel, please understand. I need to go. I won’t stay forever, I promise, I just need father’s help to understand and learn to control my powers.” Nico tried to reason with her. The others in the room were in silence, only waiting for Hazel’s reaction, no one dared interfere with the daughter of Pluto in her current state.

Hazel’s face softened. “You don’t need to go now, you’re still not well. If you don’t want to stay here because of what happened you can come to camp Jupiter with me and Reyna, you know you will be welcomed there. You can finish your recovery there and once you’re well you can travel to the Underworld. But now is too soon. I don’t want you to be in danger of disappearing again Nico.” She said with sadness in her voice. 

Nico knew from the start that if anyone in this world really cared for him, that person was Hazel. From the moment they met he already felt brotherly toward her, and he knew it was the same way for her towards him. He was so greatful he had found Hazel and gotten her out of his father’s kingdom. Her concern for him made him feel real, welcomed wherever she was and accepted, which was more than he ever had after losing Bianca. 

“Hazel, look at me” The girl fixed her melted golden eyes on her brother, the one who had come for her in that damned place that was the fields of Asphodel, her one and only family in this world and who she knew would always think of her first, always putting himself in second if it meant helping his sister. “I want you to understand it. I want to live here, at camp, I really want to give it a try, and of course visit you and Reyna in New Rome whenever I can. But I can’t be here or near anyone if there’s a risk I might harm them by accident because I can’t keep my powers under control. There’s only one being in existence that can help me, and that’s Hades. I know you are worried and I wish you wouldn’t worry for me. I know my limits…”

“No you don’t” Hazel, Reyna, Jason and Will said at the same time. 

“Actually I do! Thank you very much!” Nico said, followed by a less audible “I just sometimes don’t respect them.”

“Never.” The four said again. 

Nico took a deep breath. “Be as it may, I still need to learn how to use and control my powers properly and since no child of Hades has ever lived in camp before, there are no records of what someone like me is capable of or how to sharpened my skills without accidentally harming someone. So that leaves one way, going straight to the source of my abilities, my father.”

The room was silent for a while. Hazel, like Will had before, was trying to look for arguments to keep Nico from going to their father’s realm so soon. But she too was cornered. Nico had a point and she knew her brother would never forgive himself if he hurt someone permanently. 

“I understand.” She said. “But you won’t stay there for long, right? And you will come to visit and send messages? And you will eat properly while you’re there? And you will sleep at least 8 hours a day?” Hazel bombarded him with questions.

Nico let out a small laugh that had every pair of eyes in the room go wide and then made them smile. No one had ever heard the son of Hades laughter before. It was a small sound, soft, like he still wasn’t sure how to do it, but very pleasant to the ears. 

“You sound like Will.” Nico said. 

Three heads turned quickly to the son of Apollo, who was trying his best, and failing miserably, not to blush. He wouldn’t meet any of the other 3 eyes. Reyna had a small smile on her face, Jason was looking dead serious at Will, almost sizing him up. Hazel was relieved to see someone else so worried about her brother and wondering why Jason looked like he was about ready to jump at Will's throat. 

“Well, you should listen to him then, he is your healer, isn’t he?” Reyna put some emphasis in the word “your” and that made Will go even redder and Nico start to go pink after the moment he let the statement sink in. 

“He is the camp’s best healer, yes, so I guess a weird case like mine could only be handled by him and Chiron probably.” Nico tried to reroute the conversation.

“Unique.” Will corrected him. Everyone looked at Will again. “Your case is not weird, is unique, that’s all.” Will said, with no trace of embarrassement in his face. 

Will wouldn’t even let Nico associate his medical case with something negative as weird. In his mind Nico registered this and again felt a warmth spread through him. He noticed Jason and Reyna making an approved nod with their heads. He felt like throwing a pillow at the son of Jupiter and daughter of Bellona. 

“So is everyone feeling better about it now? I promise to come by whenever I can, to camp Half Blood and Jupiter. I will eat and sleep while I’m there, I will not overuse my powers, okay?” Nico tried once again. 

The four looked at each other. There wasn’t really much to do about it, Nico’s arguments were solid. 

“If there is no other way and you won’t wait to rest longer, then there’s really not much we can do about it. But keep your promise, brother of mine, or I’ll use my stones and jewelry to trap you here when you come back!” Hazel said with a finger pointing at Nico. Her brother just nodded with a face that told her he had no intentions of crossing her. 

For Jason and Reyna had seen of Nico, they both wondered if maybe Hazel wasn't the one everyone should worry about. That petite and kind girl could be really scary when she wanted to.  
Will was just pleased to see someone make Nico so docile and promise to take care of himself. Even if it was out of fear from his sister.


	15. Time to go

The morning of the 4th day came and Nico was ready to leave the infirmary. Will was standing by the door of his little room, waiting to give Nico a last check up before the raven haired demigod left for the Underworld. 

“Well, let’s get this over with, shall we?” Nico snapped Will out of his thoughts. 

The son of Apollo walked to Nico’s bed and took both of his wrists into his hand, letting his healing powers flow through the son of Hades and getting a precise report of what was still not a 100% right with Nico’s health. He was still a bit malnourished, a significant vitamins deficiency and he could even tell Nico’s body still needed sleep and rest, but a lot less than that first day in the infirmary. 

Will was very happy about that, but he still didn’t want to let Nico go. 

“Nico” Will started, but couldn’t think how to say what he wanted. “I know I already asked this of you, but please be careful down there. Even though you will be in your father’s reign I saw that memory of yours, you have at least one enemy down there.” Mino’s face came to Nico’s mind, Will was right, if it had been a dream or not during his imprisonment in the vase, he knew Minos was able to hold a grudge for the longest of time and since he had been the one to prevent Minos revenge on Daedalus he knew he wasn’t exactly 100% safe in the Underworld. But he was confident he could avoid Minos while down there. Plus, he now was stronger than when the dead king had tried to control him and Nico was the Ghost King now, taking the title from Minos. He suspected that while he was alive and in his father’s domain Minos wouldn’t dare harm him.

“Don’t worry Will, Minos won’t risk a fight he has a chance to lose, I’ll be cautious of him, but you don’t need to worry too much about him.” Nico tried to convinced Will it would be ok.

Will nodded slightly. “Still, try to keep your distance from him, yeah? And like I said before, don’t push yourself too much. As much as you say you know your limits you don’t seem to care to respect them. Don’t work yourself into exhaustion, don’t put yourself at risk for nothing. I know you want to learn how to control your powers, but they are not so out of control you need to push yourself beyond what you can take, specially now that you’re still recovering, ok?” 

Nico smiled and Will saw this time, feeling the corners of his mouth also moving to match the gesture. It was a rare sight and made him feel privileged to see it.  
“Thank you Will, for the concern and taking care of me while I was here.” Nico said. “I’ll be careful, as much as possible for a demigod at least. I’ll try to stay out of trouble.”   
Will took a chance and reached for Nico’s hand, taking it again in his. NIco didn’t pull it away, but looked down to his knees. Will gave his hand a light squeeze and Nico lifted his hand and looked Will in the eyes.

“Just come back to camp and to us as soon as you can, safe and well, okay?” Will had puppy eyes, as if pleading with them to Nico do as he was being asked.  
Nico swallowed what felt like his heart, beating in his throat. The butterflies in his stomach apparently had invited birds to have a full flapping party in there. He was beginning to have small amount of hope that Will’s behavior towards him might have more to it than friendship, but he was trying to keep a lid on it, not to get his hopes too high so soon after finally dealing with the whole Percy thing. Besides, he was still getting used to the idea of people knowing about him and the fact he liked boys, he had had good reactions about it, Jason, Reyna and Hedge had all found out by accident, but none of them had turned their backs to Nico, quite the opposite, they had showed support and still wanted to be his friend. 

What was going on here, with Will, would have to wait to be thought of latter. He intended to keep his promise, to come and visit, let Will check up on him. But to deep inside he knew he also wanted to come and just hang a bit with his friends, Will included. He and the son of Apollo had talked about unimportant things during Nico stay in the infirmary, with no other patients around Will had stayed all of his shift keeping Nico company, it had been a great day for the son of Hades, to just listen to Will telling him about modern culture, talking a bit himself about the quest or where he had visited in his years of solitude. Will had demanded that once Nico came back they would marathon a bunch of series and movies. Nico didn’t care much about all the amazing series Will kept talking about it, but he did want to spend time with the blonde, so he was still excited about it. 

‘Snap out of it! Not right now! You’re going to go to Underworld, have your mind clear for it. Besides, you’re only guessing here, it can be only a friend gesture all this concern.’ Nico’s mind told himself.   
“I will, as soon as possible.” Nico said. 

A few minutes later Nico walked out of the infirmary. He noticed some demigods stopped what they were doing to look at him for a moment and most returned to their duties after nodding or just saying a Hello to him. Others even did as much as walk to him and say they were happy he was doing better. Nico was speechless when that happen, he was hopeful the other campers wouldn’t run from him, but to actually come to him, willingly, and talk to him, say they were happy he was getting better was utterly unexpected. And awesome. 

He saw some of the young ones get scared and avoid him, two even ran away from him, but Will had told him about it so he wasn’t so hurt by it. They had their reasons to fear him, he hoped once he came back in total control of his abilities that would change. 

By the time he got to his cabin about 12 campers had talked to him. He didn’t even know how to talk back to them. Having people come and speak to him, ask how he was doing, he wasn’t used to it. He was used to be invisible on a good day, avoided and feared on bad ones. This was new, a bit overwhelming, but not bad. Not bad at all. Maybe it would indeed be okay. He had no doubts his friends had something to do with this change of behavior of the other campers, but he was greatful anyway.   
He walked into his cabin, changed his clothes and strapped his sword to his side. When he stepped out of the Hades cabin he saw his friends waiting. He thought he would have to go to them to say goodbye, but they heard he was out of the infirmary and came to him instead. 

Hazel walked up to him and hugged him. “Be careful Nico, stay safe, get the help you need and come back here, ok?” His sister stepped back and gave him a kiss on the cheek.   
Reyna came next, also hugged him, though with a bit more strength to it, she didn’t say anything, but after all they had been through she didn’t need to.   
Jason was the third, Nico let the son of Jupiter give him one of his bear hugs, lifting him off the floor. “Have a safe travel and don’t take too long to come a visit, alright?” Jason said. 

Nico tried to inhale some air and answered with a strained voice “If you don’t hug me to death before I even leave, I’ll try.” Jason chuckled and put him down. “Your hugs might be more dangerous than anything I face in the Underworld.” Nico said with a light voice.   
Everyone laugh while Jason scratched his neck with a embarrassed face. 

Piper and Annabeth just touched Nico’s shoulder, which he was greatful for, the amount of physical contact he had had today was almost reaching his limits.   
Both girls wished him luck and that he would be able to come back soon. 

Clarisse, who joined the group when she noticed the commotion, just nodded and said “Good luck di Angelo”

Hedge just looked at Nico and said “You better not waste all the work I had in healing you boy!” Nico thanked him for all his trouble. Hedge came closer and said low enough to only Nico hear “Don’t put yourself in danger kid. You don’t have to be the hero always, it’s okay to ask for help if you need it, understand? Take care of yourself and remember you have people waiting for you here.” Nico was amazed, he didn’t expect to hear that from Hedge, but was very thankful for it none the less. “I understand, Coach.”  
Percy came next. The son of Poseidon opened his arms wide and strutted forward with a goofy grin. 

“No.” Nico said.   
Percy’s face fell. Jason snickered behind Nico.   
“Why?” Percy demanded “Hazel hugged you! And Reyna! And even Jason!”

“Hazel is my sister, Reyna is almost that and Jason probably couldn’t be stopped any way.” Nico replied, hearing a “That’s right” from Jason in the back.  
“But I’ve known you the longest! I should be allowed to hug you!” Percy tried to argue

“Time is not quality, I’ve known you the longest, but the circumstances weren’t exactly favorable and you know it now.” Nico explained and Percy felt somewhat guilty for not noticing what Nico was going through and not giving the son of Hades the attention he should have given to someone he said he considered a friend. He hoped he would be able to make it up for it someday. “Doesn’t mean I don’t think of you as a friend now Percy, only that will take sometime for me to be as comfortable with you as I am with the others.”

At that the son of Poseidon felt better and stretched his hand “A handshake, then?”  
Nico signed, there was no winning with someone as stubborn as Percy, he just took the older demigod’s hand and shook it. Percy smiled widely. Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing, Nico thought, to every now and then let people know he cared too, with minor gestures, no more hauling a ton heavy statue.

Will was waiting a bit far away, on the way to Thalia’s tree, where Nico was going to exit the camp through.   
He walked up to the son of Apollo and offered the smallest smile. Will just gave a full dental paste commercial smile that almost blinded Nico. Was just his mind or did that blonde actually glowed when he smiled like that?  
“Got everything you need?” Will asked.   
“Yeah, it’s not like I need much either.” Nico replied as the two, plus the others that had met Nico at his cabin, walked the short distance they still had to cover to the edge of camp. 

“Well, doesn’t hurt to say again, so be careful while you’re there, don’t exert yourself and come back to camp in a few days, yes?” Will repeated his instructions for the tenth time.   
Nico gave a small chuckle at that, but nodded none the less. As they approach the last few feet to the barrier Nico saw Chiron waiting by the pine tree. 

“I think your ride is here, di Angelo” The old centaur said. Behind him stood a Hellhound the size of a SUV, around it’s neck a purple and silver cord where it was visible the Screech Owl, one of the symbols of Hades. “I hope this journey will help you and that you’ll come back to camp feeling better and more used to your powers. I am sorry we are not able to help you here.”

“It’s ok Chiron, it’s not like there’ve ever been a child of Hades at camp, there’s no way you would know there ever would be one.” Nico answered. 

Jason looked at the enormous beast waiting outside and asked “Are you really traveling with that?” some concern in his voice. Nico and Hazel exchanged amused smiles. “Yeah, Hades has many Hellhounds under his command, trained and loyal to him.”

“You’re joking?” Piper said. 

“Well, Poseidon and Zeus have their pegasi, hipocampi, eagles and other animals, why wouldn’t our father have his?” Hazel countered with a smile.

“Hades actually has Hellhounds that date from their creation, a long line with only the most intelligent, loyal and obedient animals. They’re actually quite impressive. That one is Myrron if I’m not mistaken, and his not even in the ten biggest Hellhounds in Hades “kennel” per say.” Nico explained. 

The demigods were staring at Nico and Hazel with baffled expressions. The Hellhound outside the barrier was patiently sitting, waiting for Nico.

The son of Hades turned to the group of friends that had followed him to the edge of camp, he hugged Hazel and kissed her cheek, nodded one more time to Reyna and Jason and offered a farewell wave to the others. He looked at Will last and then turned to leave.

“Whoa, wait a second. I didn’t say goodbye to you yet!” Will sounded almost offended.

“What? I thought that conversation was it” Nico said confused.

“Yeah, well it wasn’t” Will retorted and before Nico could say anything or react Will stepped forward and hugged him. Nico felt all his muscles tense, but quickly relaxed into the hug. He heard a voice from his friends “Hey! How come even Will can hug him and I can’t?” followed by a whacking sound and Annabeth’s voice “Shut up Seaweed Brain!”

It was just a few seconds, but Nico’s heart was beating hard in his chest, he didn’t even had time to react, to hug back ( he did even know if he would, he didn’t know what to do in this situation) when Will pulled back from the hug, still smiling and simply said “Don’t take a month to come back, alright?”

Nico’s brain was still lagging. He just nodded and turned to the barrier again, walking through it without looking back, he knew his friends would have the collection of amused, confused, mischievous and grinning faces. 

As soon as he had crossed the barrier Myrron got up and walked to him. Nico took hold of the hound’s fur by it’s shoulders and started to feel the shadows come for them. He looked at camp and his friends one more time and then all went dark.


	16. Shall we begin?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I honestly don't know if Alecto is a he or a she, so I used "it" when refering to it. Does any one know if furies have gender?

As soon as Nico got his bearings he let go of Myrron’s fur, the Hellhound spared the son of Hades a look and then vanished again, probably returning to his pack. 

Nico had wondered for some time now if Hades would considering letting him have one of the Hellhounds for himself. It would certainly make his shadow traveling easier and it would be an animal that actually didn’t mind Nico’s deathly vibe.

He turned around. He was standing right in front of Hades’ palace. He walked up the stairs, skeletons guardian at the door immediately opening them for the son of their Lord. He walked the long way to his father’s throne room. Hades was there, sitting in his intimating throne. Persephone was no where he could see, so he relaxed a bit more about talking with his father. 

Hades waited for Nico to get closer. Nico reached the Lord of the Underworld’s throne, offered a small bow (no longer kneeling like he did in the beginning, he had earn enough respect from his father to no longer feel that was necessary) and waited for Hades to have the first word. 

The God looked at his only son for a few moments.

“I am glad you survived that journey, my son. More than once I thought you would come to me in less solid condition. I am indeed relieved your life didn’t end like that.” Hades said, a steady and unreadable look in his eyes. 

Nico didn’t know what to say to that. 

“But I know the end of that quest wasn’t the end of the danger to your life. I felt it a few days ago, your life force almost extinguishing, almost disappearing. Your soul wouldn’t have come to me, it almost vanished into darkness. You, my last son, would have cease to exist, leaving no trace, not even here in the Underworld.” Hades continued. 

Nico felt a cold shiver run through his spine. He had suspected that might happen, hearing Hades confirm it scared him.  
“I wouldn’t want that to happen to you, Nico. That the powers you inherited from me became your doom and damnation. I summoned you here to help you with them, to make sure you won’t fall a victim of the abilities you have and can still develop.”

His son looked at him with an expression that told Hades he couldn’t quite believe his ears. Nico thought he would have to at least present his arguments to his father so that the God would help him, to have such help offered so freely was not something he had expected. 

“I am truly and very greatful for your offer Father.” Was all his son could muster to say.  
Hades felt a corner of his mouth twitch into an almost not quite there half smile.  
“I know you didn’t expect this offer, but as far as I know you will be the last child of Hades, my last son to live and walk the Earth, I would have you stand a chance in having a long and, perhaps, happy life while you don’t join me in my kingdom.”Hades added. 

“The first thing you must understand about your powers Nico is that they are not, any of them, uncontrollable. I know they feel that way to you sometimes, but that is because your powers are older than your body.” The God said. 

“What? I don’t understand?”

“Your cousins seem to have a better control over their powers, don’t they?” Hades asked

Nico just nodded. Percy and Jason did seem to have a better grip and make better use of their powers. 

“It’s not that they are stronger than you” Hades said with a bit more of emphasis than necessary “But their powers had a chance to develop as they grew older, molding to their bodies as they aged. If the son of Poseidon had the amount of power he has now when he first discovered his parentage he would most likely burst because of it or be overwhelmed by it, losing control every time he used it. The same with that son of Jupiter. The powers inherited from their godly parent affects the demigods while they grow. They develop along with the demigod, growing as they grow, becoming stronger or lasting longer. A child of Hecate can use more magic a few years after discovering their powers and training and growing with them. Same for all the other demigods. You, on the other hand, are an exception. My children, as a survival need, usually wake their powers at a younger age than other demigods, that gave them a fighting chance in a world where they were not welcomed in the demigod society, when they had to live and learn to survive on their own, fighting monsters and even other demigods without help from anyone.” Hades explained.

Nico remember feeling his powers for the first time, when he was not even 11 years old and had felt Bianca dying. Later he had banished those skeleton warriors without even breaking a sweat or thinking about it. 

“You now are welcomed in that camp, but they can’t help you with your powers because you are the first child of mine to live among them. And your case is even more unique. You see, the time you spent in the Lotus Cassino might have not been significant to your mind and body, but it did affected your powers. Your abilities are timeless Nico, the spell and magic in the casino didn’t make them go dormant or hinder their development. While your body remained young and immature, your powers grew as if 80 years had passed. You understand? Your body and mind remained trapped in time, keeping their childish features, but to your powers time didn’t stop and they indeed develop.” Hades finished

“So, let me see if I understood, I have the body of a 15 year old, or almost that, but the powers of a 80 years demigod?” Nico tried to express his conclusion

“Around 85 years, but yes, you understood. And Nico, no child of mine ever made to such age. That’s why you lose control over your powers in situations you feel trapped. You’re too young for such a great and strong amount of power.” Hades helped his son understand. “I dare say once you learn to control them, and you have to learn else they can destroy you from the inside, you might just become the most powerful demigod to have ever existed. Even of all my brother’s children almost none made it to adulthood, if by this young age you already have the power of an 85 year old demigod as you grow older so will your powers grow stronger and you have the potential to reach a level of power unheard before to demigods.”

Nico’s head was spinning. When he thought about asking for his father’s help he didn’t imagine he would get hit in the face with such explanation. All he had wanted was to be able to go to sleep without the fear of hurting anyone or dissolving into shadows. 

“It is a lot to take in, I know. I wasn’t sure how the Casino would affect that aspect of you, the fact you were able to transport that statue as far as you did made my suspicions true, that your powers had been growing regardless of the magic in that building. I will do all I can to make sure you don’t pay the price for being a child of mine Nico, but you will have to train here for as long as necessary, as long as it takes for you to reign over your powers, not the other way around.” Hades said in a finalizing tone.

His son was still processing all he had said. Hades felt an amount of sorrow for the boy. His life had not been easy until this point, but he had hoped it would get better, that maybe the last child of his to exist would be the one to live a good life, accepted by the other demigods, with a home and perhaps friends. To have to explain he was in danger of having his own powers, powers he only had because he was Hades’ son, possibly destroy him was one more unwarranted hit of the Fates to bring him down.

“When do we start then?” Nico asked his father, determination in his voice. 

Hades stared at his son for a moment. He could plainly see the shadows and darkness inside the boy, swirling and twisting, always there. He signed. Must all his children pay a price for having him as a father? Even more so this last one of his?

“You can’t use your powers yet, your body still need to recover from the exertion of carrying that statue of my niece. But we can start with the basics and Alecto will be your teacher for this part.” Hades stated. 

Alecto materialized by Hades side, bowing to it’s Lord. The fury then look at Nico and said in it’s raspy voice: 

“Shall we start then, young Master?”


	17. It's too much

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know that to Percy, Alecto was and acted as an enemy, but to Nico it would be respectful and patient because of his father. I think the Furies would treat Nico well, specially after Hades himself accepting and treating Nico better.   
> And it was pointed out to me that the Furies are goddesses, so I started treating Alecto as a she.

Nico felt frustrated. 

It felt like he had been training for weeks with Alecto, the fury was an incredible patient teacher (but with thousands of year of existence serving Hades maybe that was to be expected). 

Alecto was trying to get Nico to learn how to perceive and measure his internal darkness and shadows, according to the fury, the son of Hades had to learn this first and foremost in order make any progress in his training. 

“It is fundamental you learn how to see them inside you, young Master. Without this ability you can overuse your abilities and fade away. Once you learn how to measure them, you’ll be able to better use your powers, control them and not be overwhelmed by them.” Alecto explained. 

And Nico was trying, trying hard, to do that. He would sit in a meditation position and try to focus his mind on the powers he felt inside of him, on the ever changing presence of the shadows. But as soon as he got close to them they would disappear. He couldn’t see them as a whole, he had no idea of their size because they would vanish as soon as he got close to them, it was infuriating. 

“I can’t do that Alecto. They won’t hold still, they will shift and move and disappear as soon as I get close to them, I haven’t been able to even see them properly yet.” Nico said in a tired voice. This training sessions weren’t physically demanding, but his mind was so tired his body was beginning to feel it too. 

“I already told you young Master, you cannot focus directly on them. These shadows and darkness are a part of you, you must look at them as such, not as something alien and new to you. They are as fleeting as a thought you’re trying to remember. When you stop trying so hard to remember it, it comes to you. Think of them as mirages in the desert, if you try to focus on it, it might disappear. But if you look at it as a part of something, it might just reveal itself to you.” The Fury said. 

Nico wish she would stop calling him young Master, but when asked to do so the Fury just replied that he was her Lord’s son and that was the proper way to call him, unless he would prefer the title Prince or Ghost King. Nico settled for the young Master after that. 

The demigod took a deep breath to try and calm his mind.   
After what he thought had been 5 days in the Underworld, and training for hours, he was used to the heavier air, the feeling of the dead and the souls around him.   
He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. He would picture himself walking a trail and wait for the shadows to come. They always did, he could feel them, but when he tried to turn and see them they would fold into themselves and disappear. It was infuriating. 

This time wasn’t different. He was walking, he began to feel them, what to him felt like a massive presence, just to his right, a few meters away. He remembered what Alecto had said and instead of turning to see them he kept walking, slower than before. The shadows kept following him, but getting closer, catching up to him. Nico fought with all his will not to turn this time. Then he saw it, with the corner of his eyes, a black, huge and, frankly, terrifying mass swirling and shifting, slowly advancing on his right.   
Nico’s first thought was “There’s no way that thing is a part of me!”

But the shadows kept coming forward and a bit closer, it was massive, Nico hadn’t seen the end of it yet and it already took all of his right peripheral vision. It started to come closer as well. Nico almost flinched at it’s proximity. But he felt no will to harm him, no hostile or aggressive intention. 

The shadows brushed his right hand for a moment and instead of the cold he expected Nico felt no difference of temperature. It was neither cold nor warm. It was the same temperature as him and it felt like putting your hand through smoke at first. When a larger part of it touched Nico’s hand if felt less like smoke and almost solid. Nico was sure that at some point it could turn completely solid and it amazed him his certainty about it, like he already knew everything about it, just couldn’t remember it yet. 

The demigod slowly turned his head, not to fully look at the shadows, just to see a bit more of it. As if sensing his intentions the black mass shifted, pulled a bit away from him, but didn’t leave this time.   
Nico could see more of it now, not the whole of it, but much more than he had ever seen so far. He was speechless. The darkness in front of him could be felt, it had a presence to it. For the first time in his life Nico started to grasp what his powers were and what fuelled them. This massive dark form was his powers, condensed into one form, and it was intimating to think he had that much inside of him. He wondered if for each demigod of different parentage their powers looked unique. Maybe for Percy he would see them as water, maybe Jason saw winds and lightings, Hecate’s children might see them as the Mist, perhaps the children of Haephastus would see fire. He thought about Mr. D children and almost laughed to himself wondering if they would see wine. 

The shadows came a bit forward, almost as if taking care not to scare him. Nico stepped forward as well, and the black mass didn’t back away this time, holding it’s ground.   
Nico looked at it for a while and made a decision. He stepped forward once again, and again, until his face was mere centimeters from the wall of darkness and shadows in front of him. HIS darkness and shadows, HIS powers, there, in their original form, he understood that at last. That huge dark and menacing mass was his, was him, part of him that was, he should never fear it like he had feared so much inside of him for so long. He had to accept it like he had finally accepted himself. He exhale and stepped into the darkness.  
He wasn’t sure what he expected, but it wasn’t that. He could see inside the darkness. He saw memories, he saw the times he used his powers, he could see the shadows and darkness moving, like currents of water or wind, surrounding him not in an aggressive way, but in a protective one. 

He reached out his hand and tried to call forward some of the shadows, thinking of them coming to him. A part of the black around him detached itself from the main body and circled in his hand, doing as told. Nico smiled. He could do this. He tried calling forward more and another bit of it came to him, joining the one floating on his hand.   
Nico was pleased with himself, but began to feel incredibly tired. He shook the thought from his mind. He was finally in touch with his powers, he couldn’t give in to a little tiredness. 

He call more of the shadows to him, it came in tendrils of black smoke and started to circle him from head to toes. Nico didn’t feel afraid of them, but began to feel small, too small, inside that black mass. He tried to disperse the shadows circling him, but they continued to move around him, not obeying.   
The son of Hades felt a twitch of fear. He had the impression this was what happened inside of him when he lost control over his powers, they could overwhelm him, hide him inside the darkness, turn him into shadows. He took a deep breath and with all the will he shouted: “BE GONE!” the shadows became still for a second, then exploded away from him. Nico almost fell to the ground with exhaustion and disorientation from all the shadows swirling around him. As the darkness retrieved and he found himself out of it, Nico finally saw the size of his powers. All he could think was “It’s too much.”

Next thing he knew he was waking up. He was lying face up on the cold ground of the Underworld. He tried to sit up, but couldn’t move, too tired to even sit.   
“Stay still young Master. You need to rest a bit before even thinking about moving.” Alecto warned him. 

“What happened?” Nico asked and realized his voice was raspy, his mouth and throat dry, he was incredibly thirsty and hungry. 

“I’m guessing this try was more productive, but dangerous. You were gone inside your mind for quite a while, almost 17 hours. And for a brief moment you started to fade. If you had continue to do so I would have pulled you out of your trance, but it was worrying none the less. I figured you finally saw them, didn’t you?” The Fury asked.   
Nico couldn’t believe he had been out for 17 hours. It had felt like less than 30 minutes. 

“I saw it, all of it. It’s too much Alecto. I can’t control that much. A small amount of it was enough for me to lose control.” NIco reported his experience to the Fury.  
Alecto listened quietly. “So that what cause your fading, when they surrounded you and wouldn’t leave. It will be a hard thing to master those shadows, but you don’t have a choice on the matter, unless you rather lose to them and be turned into shadows yourself.” 

“How can I even begin to control them? Less than a tenth of it was almost enough to make me fade!” Nico retorted, finally feeling strong enough to sit up.

“You don’t have to learn to control all of it at once young Master. But at least more than half of it you must rule over, so that it won’t destroy you. Once you start understanding your powers and controlling them it won’t be so hard to control the rest. Your body is still too young to deal with so much, but at least half of all you must learn to control. The other half you can master as you grow, taking your time. I wager for you to have some control over all of it would take at least 5 or 7 years of training, to have full control at least 12 years or more.” Alecto said. 

Nico felt himself deflating. He would have to train that long to be able to have a normal life? To go back to camp?  
Alecto seemed to sense his loss of hope.

“Don’t feel defeated young Master. I said to control all of it. To control half of it will be faster, for you already have what it takes, otherwise you wouldn’t have made it that far with that statue and been able to gostify that Roman demigod after so much shadow traveling.” The Fury said.

Nico bowed his head when he heard about Bryce. Of course the Furies and his Father would know, they could sense his use of powers and the souls entering the Underworld. 

“Son of Hades” the Fury called him. Nico raised his head. “There’s no shame in what you did. Even if now you think you could’ve done things differently, you protected people you cared about. It would have been shameful if you had allowed him to do all the harm he intended only so you wouldn’t use your powers.”  
Hearing that from Alecto made Nico rethink his actions. He knew if he was faced with the same situation it was most likely he would react the same way, to protect someone he cared about. 

“And don’t feel discouraged young Master. As I said, you already proved to have more than enough will and strength to control at least half of your powers, all you need to do is accept them and learn how to work with them. You already began to accept them as part of you, but you still need to fully embrace them, understand that they have always been and always will be a part of you, like your hands, legs, heart. You’ll learn, don’t worry, in due time. But now I think you should rest.” The Fury added. 

Nico quite agreed on that, but first, water and food.


	18. What if he was eaten by Hellhounds??

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will can worry too much sometimes

It had been a week and three days. But who was counting? 

“I am!” thought an angry Will Solace. Damn that stubborn son of Hades! He had asked, multiple times as he remembered, for him to come back at least once a week! And did he? Of course not! He was 4 days late already. 

Will huffed in annoyance. Kayla looked at him.   
“Thinking about di Angelo again, Will?” His sister asked

“I’m worried Kayla! That air headed guy will forget to eat if he’s committed to something, he might not take care of himself in the Underworld. He might destroy himself trying to learn to control his powers as fast as possible. He might overdo it, he might disappear in shadows, he might step on a Hellhound tail and be eaten…” Will started rambling in an angry tone.

Kayla took a deep breath. Her brother had been acting like that since the week di Angelo was supposed to come back came to an end and another week started. 

“Time flows differently in the Underworld, you heard Annabeth explain that. Maybe to him it hasn’t been a 10 days. He might think only 3 or 5 have gone by. Don’t worry yourself too much. If anything had happened to him I’m sure we would have heard from Hazel” Kayla resoned.

She was right, and Will knew. But he also knew enough of Nico to know he would push himself way beyond his limits to achieve a goal. He learned that on that morning he saw the son of Hades, barely strong enough to remain solid and still considering shadow traveling to Octavian’s tent so that he might stop the war from starting. 

“I’m worried he will forget we’re waiting for him here. That he will risk everything to control his powers. If you had seen him on the hill that morning we almost went to war with the Romans, Kayla, you would understand. He was ready to throw his life away to do the greater good. It didn’t matter he was going to vanish from this world, become shadows, he was still willing to do it for us, for both sides of demigods. It scared me to see that.” Will said in a quiet voice.

Kayla looked at Will with sympathy. She had known, for a while now, that her brother liked the quiet and dark son of Hades. She had even asked him flat out about it and Will didn’t bother to denied it. The two had been good friends since Kayla came to camp the first time, Will always trusted her and she trusted him. When Nico had walked into the infirmary she was honestly surprised. She had expected the son of Hades to disappear from camp as soon as possible, leaving Will again wondering about his whereabouts.   
When she learned he had decided to stay at camp she was happy. For both Nico to finally have a place to call home and for Will, who would finally be freed from the worry of not knowing what was happening to Nico or where he was. 

The incident that first night di Angelo was in the infirmary had honestly scared her. She had been hit by the wave as well, but saw only blurred visions, a few had been cleared for a few seconds, she mostly had felt what Nico had felt. 

After a day going through what had happened in her head she decided that she, as a healer and as Will sister, had to give the kid another chance. Her attitude had helped make the other Apollo kids, and then some of the other campers, to not turn their backs on the son of Hades out of fear.   
She looked at her brother’s face. He had been fidgeting since day 7 of Nico’s departure. Whenever there was a commotion, Will was the first to run to investigate, hoping it would be Nico returning as promised. 

Kayla had no idea if Nico would like Will as Will liked Nico, but she hoped that even if he didn’t he would at least know someone cared that much for him and would be friends with her brother. He needed more friends, that lonesome son of Hades. 

“Try to calm down Will, he will show up eventually, not even aware so much time has gone by.” Kayla tried again to calm her brother. “He promised he would come back, and to me he seems like the kind of person who would always keep his promises.” With that she left to check on the few patients they had, minor injuries, the common ones in the life of demigods training with sharp objects or climbing a lava wall, or in case of the Stolls, annoying Ares’ children. 

Will took a deep breath. She was right, of course. Nico would keep his promise. He probably wasn’t aware so much time had gone by. But it was still hard to just wait. He had tried iris messaging him, but apparently that wasn’t welcomed in the Underworld because none of the calls had gone through.   
All he could do was wait. 

And he had to wait another 6 days to see Nico again. 16 days that idiot was gone. 

Will was walking aimlessly, trying to get his mind to relax after a shift in the infirmary. It was dusk, he was near the edge of the forest, after walking on the beach and the strawberry fields. He was just about to turn to the cabins and go gather his sibling for dinner when he felt something off. He turned to the forest and saw shadows coming together and forming a large shape, out of it came Nico di Angelo, stumbling a bit, but walking none the less. 

The son of Hades hadn’t notice Will yet, he just put a hand against a tree trunk and seemed to be trying to catch his breath for a minute.   
Will said nothing, he just started walking towards Nico, not quite believing his eyes. 

When the blonde was only a few steps away from him, Nico finally lifted his head and saw the son of Apollo walking to him, with determined strides. The younger demigod opened his mouth to say something, but Will got to him first and threw his arms around Nico’s shoulder, bringing the son of Hades into a tight hug. 

Nico’s breath was squeezed out of him, but he didn’t fight the hug. He waited a few seconds, when Will didn’t let go Nico gingerly lifted his own arms and, not feeling sure at all about what he was doing but feeling he wanted to do it, hugged Will back. Once the son of Apollo felt Nico’s arms around him, he smiled wide and held Nico for a while longer. Nico pulled his arms back after a few seconds of hugging Will. Giving him a last squeeze Will let the dark haired demigod go. He didn’t want to push his luck, but he wouldn’t have mind to remained hugging Nico for some more time. 

Will stepped back. “I wasn’t sure if I should hug you or punch you.” Will said.

Nico seemed surprised by that. “What? Why?” He questioned indignantly.

“You’ve been gone for 16 days!” Will almost shouted

Nico’s eyes widened. 

“I thought I was cutting close to the deadline, but I thought I would be a day late at the most! Wow, time really is irregular in the Underworld.” Nico said. 

Will huffed, but smiled none the less. He was happy to see Nico, whole and well. During their hug Will had briefly searched for the shadows and darkness. He felt them, but small and calm in a corner, not overwhelming or taking over Nico. 

“I’m happy to see you, di Angelo. And I know many others will be happy to see you back as well.” Will said.   
With that they started walking to the cabins. Once out of the shadows of the forest Will could see Nico better. His hair was longer and tied back in incredibly messy ponytail, with strands loose here and there. His skin was still pale, but not sickly pale like he expected it would become after so many days in the Underworld. He seemed to have put on a little weight, though not enough in Will’s opinion, but at least it showed he wasn’t starving himself anymore.

The first to notice them was Piper. On their farewell she had refrained from hugging Nico, not this time. The daughter of Aphrodite threw her arms around Nico and said how happy she was that he finally showed up, that Jason had been iris messaging every day to ask if Nico had returned. The son of Jupiter was currently at Camp Jupiter, studying some manuscripts about minor gods and making a list of them and appropriate shrines and offerings for each. 

The other campers saw the commotion and soon all camp knew of Nico’s return. Annabeth and Percy ran to meet him, the daughter of Athena gave him a quick hug. Percy came with arms wide open again and again heard a resolute “No” from Nico. This time he just shrugged and offered his hand, Nico shook it with a small smile on his face. It was good to be back at camp he thought. 

And apparently the other campers seemed happy to have him back. 

Nico noticed that even though many campers came to welcomed him back, Will hadn’t left his side. Piper, Annabeth and Percy were on his right side, talking and asking how the training had been, had he finish it, had he made progress. Clarisse joined them on the questions, maybe hoping to learn some new training techniques. Will just stood by Nico’s left side, walking in pace with him, silently. Whenever Nico would look at him, Will would just offered a kind smile, as if showing how relieved he was to have Nico back at camp. 

On the inside, Nico was smiling too. It was good to be back.


	19. What does it mean?

For the first day Nico mostly just rested, talked to his friends and enjoyed the air and view so different from the Underworld. 

He called Hazel and Reyna in New Rome and told him he would shadow travel to see them the next afternoon, much to Will’s disapproval. Jason was about to leave New Rome but when he found out Nico was going there the next day he decided to wait to see the son of Hades.

Will gave him a full check up a few hours after his return and was pleased with most of what he found. 

“You still should eat more, you’re still on the too thin for your age and height side.” Will told him after the examination was done.  
Nico simply said “I’m eating more, be happy with that Solace.”

“Well, if you want to have at least a chance to reach and even go past 5,5’foot you should consider eating more and better.” Will got him back with a sly smile

Nico felt his face warming up at Will’s smile and had trouble finding words to reply. “I haven’t hit my grow spur, that’s all! I’ll get taller soon, you’ll see!” He tried to argue back, but against someone so well versed in health issues, Nico knew he was out of his depth, Will would be able to reason out and win most arguments in that category. 

“Well, Ghost King, how are you to reach such mighty heights if you don’t provide your body with the nutrients it needs to grow? Can you summon grow spur as well as warrior skeletons?” The son of Apollo countered and Nico had no answers for it, looking down to the floor but not wanting to admit defeat. Will approach the bed he was sitting on and placed a warm hand on the son of Hade’s shoulder “I’m not trying to annoy you, Nico. You’ve been doing great, much better than I had expected really, I thought you were coming back a bag of bones again, I was happy to see you even manage to gain some weight, but you’re still not 100% healthy, that’s my only concern. So don’t take it bad, I just want to make sure you take proper care of yourself.”

Nico lifted his head and looked Will straight in the eyes, getting a bit caught on their vivid blue colour and forgetting what he was going to say. Will felt blood rushing to his cheeks and hoped it wasn’t enough to make him red in the face. He tried to keep his own gaze on Nico’s eyes, but for a moment his eyes were drawn to Nico’s mouth and he tried to quickly turn them back to his eyes, hoping the dark haired demigod hadn’t noticed. Of course Nico did noticed the trajectory of Will’s eyes and blushed furiously, but internally his butterflies, who Nico was sure by now were the size of sparrows, were back at their fluttering party. 

“Well, you’re cleared for normal activities at camp, but don’t overdo it ok? I still want you to rest as much as possible.” Will tried to say with medical composure, but his voice betrayed him a bit. He removed his hand from Nico’s shoulder and started to write down on Nico’s medical chart. 

Nico just nodded and jumped off the bed. He was almost out the door when he took a breath and said in a low voice “Thank you for all the attention and care, Will.” And with that he rushed out the infirmary. 

Will was torn between feeling happy for Nico’s words and being called Will, and feeling a bit embarrassed for not being able to control himself when he was standing so close to Nico. He didn’t know if the son of Hades had noticed how weird Will got when they were near each other, and even more when they were alone. Will would hate to make Nico uncomfortable in any way, but his feelings for the dark haired boy were getting stronger the more time they spent together. 

“Calm yourself William, you don’t even know if he likes guys too. He might not, and you’ll end up with an awkward face and lose a friend.” He told himself while taking a deep breath. 

Nico on the other hand was inside his cabin trying to not hyperventilate. He had told himself he would think about all the care and attention and all the words Will had spoken to him in those days before he went to train in the Underworld, but during his time in his father’s realm he barely got a second on his own to think. He thought all Will’s actions meant the blonde might like him, but he had never been on the receiving end of that kind of caring, so he had no idea what to make of it, what it really meant and if he would like it to be really more than patient-doctor care or even more than friendship. 

Bianca had always shown Nico care and love, but as a sister. Nico had only recently made friends, so he didn’t know how to differentiate Will’s gestures from Jason’s, Reyna’s or even Hazel’s. They were different, but maybe Will was just more outgoing and friendlier than most, he certainly had never shown fear or any restraints in Nico’s presence, not cringing when Nico was near, not even avoiding him. He even went as far as initiate physical contact more often than anyone in Nico’s current life. 

The son of Hade’s sat on his cold cabin’s floor, trying in vain to make sense of all that information. He wondered if he wanted Will to like him more than friends. He didn’t know the son of Apollo well, but only by his actions Will had already made a dent on Nico’s armor. Will had never shown anything but concern for Nico, touching his hand when no one would dare come 3 feet near him, being as absurdly non afraid of Nico that even when the son of Hades threaten him he would not be impressed or step back or, what Nico would expect from someone being threaten by him, to turn tail and run, standing up to Nico’s argument that he didn’t belong at camp and publicly shouting at Nico for thinking that. Will was just comfortable around Nico as he was with anyone, not fidgeting, not going out of his way to avoid him. That was still new to Nico. 

He thought about how miserable he was around Percy, wanting something he could never have, idolizing someone so much it blinded him to anything else. 

With Will he felt accepted as he was. Being a son of Hades didn’t seemed to matter to Will, he was kind and bossy to Nico, like Nico was as threatening to him as a Labrador puppy, a puppy he was trying to teach to how to live better and learn to be accepted. And Will didn’t even know if Nico would like him back, but still treated him like that.

Nico took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He let a small smile come to him, than an even bigger one, until he had a big grin on his face.


	20. Well, do you?

The next day Nico shadow traveled to New Rome, under orders from Will that getting there he would eat, rest and come back to camp before returning to the Underworld to continue his training. 

As soon as he stepped out of the shadows by the side of the senate house he heard Hazel’s voice and running steps.  
“Nico!” His sister shouted and practically pounced on him. 

“I haven’t been gone that long you know?” Nico said trying to keep his balance as Hazel “attack” almost sent them to the ground.  
“Yes you have, and I was worried.” She replied and let her brother go, giving him a once over look to check his appearance. She too was relieved to see he hadn’t lost weight and looked healthy. “How was training with dad?”

“Actually, Alecto is teaching me for now, helping me with the basics to understand and control my powers. It’s surprisingly efficient to train with her, she’s patient and has a way of guiding me through training that I didn’t expect from her.” Nico answered. Hazel was happy to hear, but she saw some doubt in Nico’s face. “What is it?” the girl asked.  
Nico looked at his sister in the eyes. He hadn’t consider telling anyone about it, but he knew he could trust Hazel with anything. And there was more than one thing he had to tell her…

“During one of the training sessions I was able to actually see the size of the power I have and must find a way to control, but Hazel, I don’t know if I will ever be able to control that much.” Nico confessed. 

They started walking through New Rome, towards Pluto’s small cabin, Nico told Hazel all Hades had explained to him about his powers not being affected by the magic in the Lotus Casino. Hazel listened in silence, taking all information in. He told about Alecto instructing him so that he would be able to control at least half of all that power and that by doing so he might be able to have a better grip in all of it eventually and be safe to be near other people. 

“Well, Alecto seems to know what she’s talking about, and she is right Nico, you hauled that enormous statue along with Reyna and coach Hedge, while fighting monsters on the way. That’s a use of power I don’t know if any demigod except for you, Jason, Thalia and Percy could even come close to using.”She said.

“And you.” Nico completed the list. “I know you hold back on your powers because you too fear them, but in a different way that I do. You know the jewels you control are cursed and can hurt people, so you refrained from using your powers for a long time. But during the quest you were incredible, Hazel. Without your geokenisis and your control over the Mist I doubt the quest would have succeeded.”

Hazel blushed a little. Her brother was right. She now trusted herself more, but for a long time she too had been scared to use her powers. Maybe she should include herself on the list as well, like Nico said. She was a daughter of the Big Three. 

But deep down she knew that between her and Nico, the boy probably held the greater power of the Underworld. And with Hades explanation, her certainty that Nico had always been more powerful and dangerous than people gave him credit only grew. 

She sensed Nico was holding back something else, but didn’t push it. They reached the cabin and entered to sit and talk some more before finding Reyna and Frank.  
Hazel told him about her duties, how she was doing well and enjoying the peace they had. How Frank had really stepped up to his role as praetor and he and Reyna made a good team in leading New Rome. 

Nico listened attentively, but fidgeting a bit and twisting the skull ring on his finger. When Hazel finished talking a silence came upon them. Nico cleared his throat after a minute, trying to say the words he needed. 

“I need to tell you something else, Hazel.” He finally said. She just nodded and waited for him to go on. Nico was breathing a bit fast. “This is nonsense!” he thought to himself. This is Hazel, his sister that cared and loved him, he could tell her anything. The world had changed, people accepted what he was now for what it was, normal, as normal as being blonde or brunette or red headed, just the way you were born, nothing else. The problem was that Hazel was also from a time that it wasn’t okay. It was considered sick, even criminal in some places. 

“Nico?” Hazel softly called him. “Whatever it is you can tell me, you know that right? And if you don’t feel ready to tell me now, you can tell me whenever you want, I’ll be here for you, always.” She offered him a kind smile.

With that his fears and doubts vanished and he started talking.  
“I like boys, Hazel. In the way that you like boys, do you understand?” He waited for her reaction. 

Hazel seemed to be processing the information, than her eyes widened a bit as she understood. “Oh. Like, as being a couple? You and another boy?” she asked  
Nico took a breath. “Yeah, like that.”

Hazel again nodded slowly. It was quiet for a little while. Then she lifted her head and asked:  
“So who do you like?”

Nico blinked a few times. “What?” he asked, incredulous she was asking him that.

“Well, if you realize you like boys, it means you started to like a boy to figure that out.” She explained and smiled at him. “So who is it that caught my brother’s attention?”  
And that was it. That easy. 

“You are okay with it?” Nico asked, still a bit baffled at her reaction. 

“If you had told me as soon as you had brought me back, I admit I wouldn’t have known how to react. But since being here I have learned slowly how the world has changed. And, truth be told, a few days after the war was over Percy and Annabeth came by to check New Rome’s college courses and Annabeth asked me to have coffee with her. We talked about many things, and she said she wanted me to ask her or Piper anything about the modern world I might have doubts. She then started to point differences from my time to nowadays and that topic was one she discussed a lot with me, telling me how wrong people were back in my days and that today people were more conscious of how wrong it was to think it was unnatural to love someone just because they were two boys or two girls. I was a bit surprised, but pleased to discover that today most people understand that no matter what, love is love and no one gets to judge it.” Hazel told Nico. 

He was so relieved and happy. He mentally made a note to thank Annabeth very much for her help. 

“The point is, Nico, you are my brother and nothing could change that. I love you no matter what and who you decide to love as your partner in life doesn’t change a thing to me.” Hazel said in a determined tone. Nico didn’t know what to say. “But, still, you haven’t answered my question.” Nico started to blush. “Who do you like?” She asked again with a grin. 

Nico smiled to her. He told her about Percy and how he now was over it, being almost sure it hadn’t been real love that he had felt for the son of Poseidon. He could have left it at that, but he decided to tell her about Will. She gave him an even brighter smile. 

“I think someone likes you!” She practically sang. 

“You don’t know that.” Nico mumbled.

“Oh, that would explain so much! How he kept hovering over you, making sure no one that could mean you harm came even close to the infirmary while you were there. And how he is so worried for you and determined to help you get well.” She was speaking so fast Nico could barely keep up. All the new information made him think that Hazel might be right and his suspicions were not far from the truth. 

“So, do you like him too?” Hazel asked. “You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to.” She added. 

Caught off guard by being asked by his sister while he was so distracted, his mind immediately answered for him “Yeah, I think so.” 

Hazel gave a big smile and Nico, after a few seconds of being surprised by his own admission, smiled back. Yes, he actually liked Will Solace.


	21. It was not suppose to happen

Nico met Reyna, Frank and Jason after his talk with Hazel. The five spent the afternoon just talking, walking around New Rome, telling each other their news, how they work or training was going. 

Reyna and Frank were working out the details of the exchange program between camps, Jason was relentlessly researching about the minor gods to built the shrines. Nico told them a bit about his training, but not as much as he told Hazel, just enough to let them know he was making a bit of progress. 

They had dinner together and then spent some more time talking before going their own way to sleep. Jason had agreed, a bit hesitantly to shadow travel with Nico back to camp Half Blood. Nico assured him he could get them there with two jumps at the most, and it still would be faster than Jason flying back all the way. 

They spent the next day just enjoying New Rome before Jason and Nico left in the afternoon. Hazel gave Nico a tight hug before he left, Frank pat him awkwardly on the shoulder and Reyna came forward and hugged him too. When she hugged Nico he felt a big surge of strength in him.   
“Just in case you need a bit of support.” Reyna whispered in his ear. 

Nico gave her a grateful smile. With this new level of energy he knew he would make back to camp in a single jump. But he decided to surprise Jason.

The two boys walked to the shadows casted by the senate’s house, waving their friends before NIco took hold of Jason’s arm and they melted into the shadows. 

Jason closed his eyes just before the darkness surrounded them. For a son of Jupiter, used to being in free skies, open areas, with wind gusting around him, the image of spacious freedom, to be amongst the shadows, in the darkness, with no light, trapped in that oppressing presence that the shadows made him feel, it was almost unbearable. He could only do it because he could feel Nico’s hand on his arm and he trusted the son of Hades to safely guide him out of it.

He wondered if that was how Nico felt when Jason had flown him in Croatia. To be so out of his natural environment that panic almost took hold of him. And shadow traveling was so damn fast. Jason got really disoriented the first time. 

Jason was caught in his wonderings and almost forgot to bend his knees and prepare for landing, he remembered just as they started to slow down enough for the son of Jupiter to feel his insides trying to adjust to the new speed. That made him a bit nauseous. 

They hit the ground and Jason tilted forward, but Nico was expecting it and pulled him back to his feet. The blonde regained his balance and opened his eyes, looking at Nico to thank him. 

The black haired boy had an amused smirk on his face.

“Yeah, thanks for not letting me fall on my face.” Jason mumbled. Nico just smirked wider and even let a little laugh escape his lips. Jason fought the urge to show surprise in his face, laughing a bit too instead, trying to encourage Nico to keep laughing. 

But then looked around and couldn’t hide his surprise. They were at camp already! With three hours ahead from the time zone it was already 8pm and the camp was dark. Jason looked at Nico.

“I thought we were going to have to do two jumps! This is amazing!” He was impressed by how much distance they covered in only one jump. 

“Two jumps would be taking the extra precaution because I’ve been shadow traveling a lot lately and there were two people to take, but honestly, even without Reyna’s help I think I could’ve manage it to do it in one jump.” Nico said and he really believed he could’ve. After taking that heavy statue with him across the globe, traveling with two people seemed so easy, even though he had shadow traveled for 3 days in a row now. 

At least he thought. The moment they took the first step to go down the hill Nico saw black spots in his sight. He tried to hide it from Jason, he sped up his breathing, thinking he might just need some extra oxygen and it would be fine. But then he started to feel the pull of exhaustion in his body and mind. Jason noticed Nico’s breathing had changed and became faster, then the son of Hades started to sway sideways.

“Nico, are you alright?” He asked the younger demigod, worriedly. 

Damn it, Nico thought. He didn’t want anyone to worry more about him. He shouldn’t have pushed it so much, but did he really had to pass out again? And at camp Half Blood, of all places? Will was going to have his head for this. 

That was the last thing to go through his mind as his sight grew darker and he felt his body just giving in to sleep and rest, shutting down everything, including his balance and ability to stand. 

Lucky for him Jason was there to repay the favor and caught him before he fell face down on the floor. He felt the son of Jupiter’s catching him around his chest. He almost wanted to protest, but all went completely dark and he knew no more about it.


	22. I am not surprised

Every camper was at the sing along fire, which had just ended and they were getting up to return to their cabins. Will was gathering his siblings, most of who were caring music instruments and creating a cacophony of sounds with them. 

“All right, put those away and lets head back to the cabins everyone!” The counselor of the Apollo cabin ordered.  
Just then they heard a shout from the direction of half blood hill.

“Help! Will, I need help!” 

Will saw Jason coming as fast as he could towards them and already redirecting his trajectory to the infirmary when he saw Will had already seen them. In his arms was an unconscious son of Hades. 

From that far Will couldn’t see what was wrong, but he already suspected it. He rushed to the infirmary, calling Kayla to follow and help him. Chiron instructed Justin, and older son of Apollo, to take the rest of his siblings back to their cabins and started to run toward the infirmary, catching up easily to Will and Kayla and pulling them up onto his horse half to get to the infirmary faster. 

Will saw from a distance that Jason was half carrying, half gliding with Nico to move faster and he thanked the son of Jupiter’s initiative to get the demigod there as soon as possible. They all reached the infirmary at the same time, Will didn’t have time to ask what had happened because Jason was already talking.

“He shadow traveled us from camp Jupiter, he said he was going to do two jumps, so I thought it would be okay, but then he did it in one and he seemed fine at first, but then he collapsed a few seconds after we got here.” 

“Put him in that bed” Will said firmly. Jason obeyed, taking Nico to the closest bed in the sick bay. “Get me ambrosia, nectar and some of the unicorn draught the Romans left for us!” He told Kayla, who ran to the supply room to get them. Chiron waited patiently at the foot of the bed to do anything he could once Will had examined Nico. Jason joined the centaur there, not wanting to be on the way but still wanting to be around in case he could help. 

Will looked at Nico. The boy was even paler than before, his breathing erratic. Will placed his hands on Nico’s chest to use his powers to examine the son of Hades and felt the cold underneath the young demigod’s shirt. When he let his powers flow through Nico he sensed the shadows, once again awake and moving. Will was torn between hating them or not. They were a part of Nico, but they could do him so much harm it made Will angry at them. The shadows and darkness were active underneath Nico’s skin, but not so much as the day of the war or during his 3 day stay in the infirmary. That made Will breathe easier. 

Nico started to shiver from the cold, his fingers tips showing a light blue color. Will immediately started to pour some of his healing powers into Nico, giving him strength and warmth. After a few seconds the son of Hades no longer shivered and his complexion looked better, less pale though still not a healthy shade. 

Kayla arrived with the supplies, going around the bed so to stand across from Will and out of each other’s way. She didn’t even need to ask Will for directions, she took Nico’s head and gently tilted forward, placing a small cup with unicorn draught against his lips and slowly giving him small sips of it, waiting for him to swallow and breathe before giving him some more. The son of Hades started to breathe slower and deeper, his temperature finally reaching an acceptable degree to Will, he relaxed into the bed and became still, only his chest moving as he breathed. Kayla gently laid his head back on the pillow, moving quickly to get blankets for him while Will still had his hands on Nico’s chest, still trying to push some of the shadows out of his way and into a smaller space. He managed to shoved them a bit, but he felt it was only because the shadows themselves were not resisting and were again folding unto themselves, as if they were certain their job was done and they could go back to whatever corner of Nico they belonged. 

Without them in the way Will could more easily use his powers and give Nico some more energy. He didn’t know if he and Reyna did it the same way, apparently Reyna could do it to a much larger number of people and from a distance too, which was very useful in Will’s opinion, but Will could direct his powers and energy to act where they were needed. In this case, warming up and grounding the son of Hades. Nico hadn’t even gone near to fading this time, but still had Will worried. 

“If you ever tell me you know your limits again di Angelo, I’ll strap you to an infirmary bed for a month, you idiot” Will mumbled more to himself than to anyone else.  
“What was that Will? You need something?” Kayla asked as she arrived with the blankets.

Will lifted his hands, finally satisfied with Nico’s improvement and helped Kayla cover him with the blankets. “No, it was nothing.” Will said.  
“He’s going to be okay, Will?” Jason asked, concern in his voice. 

Will looked at the son of Jupiter and wanted to be mad at him, but he knew it wasn’t his fault. The other blonde had told him, they were supposed to do 2 jumps, Nico had been reckless, AGAIN, and decided to do it in one. 

The son of Apollo took a deep breath to calm down. Nico was going to be the death of him so much he made Will worry. 

“Yes, he will be fine Grace, he just needs to sleep and rest. Maybe have some nectar or ambrosia when he wakes up. I’ve never used unicorn draught before, the Romans said it was less likely to makes us burst in flames, but I still need to go over their instructions. I’ll do that while I wait for Nico to wake up. Reyna and Hedge told me it works better on him, so I need to know how much he can have of it.” Will answered. 

“I’m sorry Will, I thought we were going to do a jump, he would rest and then we would have a second jump to get here. If I had known he was planning on doing it in one jump I would’ve tried to stop him.” Jason offered. 

“You would probably fail at it. When he gets an idea in his head, I doubt anyone can take him off his course.” Will said. “It’s okay, Jason. It was not your fault. I know you would never have agreed to it. He just doesn’t know how to respect his damn limits.” Will vented a bit. 

“I think it might be a children of the Big Three problem.” Jason said. 

Will gave a weak laugh at that. “I wouldn’t doubt it.”

“Well you don’t get to say a thing about not respecting someone’s limits, William Solace.” Kayla said in a stern tone. “Or it wasn’t you that nearly used his powers to death not once, but 4 times already? Collapsing from exhaustion, barely alive after healing so many in so little time?”

Will bowed his head trying to hide his embarrassment in being called out so truthfully by his sister. 

Chiron had a kind smile on his face. 

“Well, I’m sure Will was just trying to do what was best for everyone, like most of the demigods who overuse their powers usually do. But Kayla is right, you need to take care of yourself too.” The centaur said as a peace offer. “Now, Kayla and Jason, you return to your cabins. Will, I’m giving you permission to spend the night here with Mr. di Angelo. If you need anything you can call me.” 

The centaur and the other two demigods left the infirmary, Jason asking Will to let him know if there was anything he could to help. Will assured him he had helped enough and not to worry, Nico was going to be fine. 

With only the two of them left in the infirmary Will took a moment to look at Nico. The son of Hades looked so peaceful now, his breathing slow and even, his face free from the constant frowning and his lips not tight in concern or restlessness. He almost seemed to be a different person, even more beautiful to Will now. He wished Nico would one day look that way while awake. Peaceful, unworried, serene. Maybe he would. Will could only hope so. 

The son of Apollo went to the infirmary’s book cabinet, took the small book about unicorn draught a Roman Apollo legacy had given them and sat by Nico’s bed, placing his elbows on the mattress and reading the information on the book. When it came to medical books Will suffered less to read and understand than regular literature, maybe it was a bonus of being a son of Apollo with a gift of healing. 

Every now and then he would stop his reading, take Nico’s hand and evaluated his state, noticing only improvement on it. 

He didn’t even know when was it that he fell asleep, still holding Nico’s hand and with his head resting just beside Nico.


	23. You're an idiot di Angelo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After this and the next chapter thing will start to get more interesting.

Nico opened his eyes to the familiar white ceiling of the infirmary and groaned, the memories of the night before coming to him. Godsdamnit! He was wondering how bad it had been when he noticed something warm in his right hand. He looked down his arm to find his hand resting in Will Solace’s hand, the blonde’s head resting by his side and his breathing indicating he was still fast asleep. 

The son of Hades’ first instinct was to panic and pull his hand away, but he managed to not do just that in time to not disturb the sleeping boy. Will must’ve used a lot of energy healing him, the least he could do was let him rest as much as possible. 

NIco stared at Will’s form for a while, noticing his many freckles, his wild curls, how long his fingers were and his hand was so warm. He really resembled a lanky cat, sleeping so relaxed like that. Nico felt guilty for putting Will through another tiring healing session. He had said he knew his limits, but he didn’t seem to be able to respect them. Maybe with his training in the Underworld that would change, he would be able to better judge the use of his powers. Nico sighed. He would have to return to his training soon. And he knew Will was going to make a big deal of it. Maybe he could message his father and ask for Myrro’s or one of the other hellhound’s help again. 

Just then Will started to stir. Nico considered pretending he was still asleep to postpone the conversation he knew was coming, but something in his mind shifted his thoughts decided to face it already. He had been alone for so long, he never owed an explanation to anyone, why he should now? He had taken care of himself, fought many monsters by himself, survived in an extremely hostile world towards demigods, specially Hades’ children, alone and for years. He shouldn’t feel like he had to apologize to anyone. But he deflated shortly. He wasn’t alone anymore. These people were willing to fight with him, for him, to help him, to heal him. He did owe them something.   
He was so lost in his conflicted emotions he didn’t notice Will was resting his chin on his wrist and looking at Nico, still holding hands. 

“Why so grumpy so soon after waking up, Death boy?” Will pulled him out of his thoughts. 

“What? Oh, you’re awake.” Nico finally noticed

“Yeah. And how are you?” Will asked, but he was very serious, not his usual joyful self. 

“I’m feeling alright, just a bit tired and hungry.” Nico answered, feeling edgy by Will’s behavior.

“Well, that’s good, I’ll go get us some food then.” Will said and got up, heading for the exit before Nico could say anything. 

Nico used the time Will was gone to think, to prepare what he thought he ought to say, but by the time the blonde returned with breakfast he still didn’t know what to say.   
Will placed a tray with pancakes, bread, fruits, juice and milk on a wheeled bed table and rolled it to Nico’s bed. Nico looked at the huge amount of food and was about to ask if he was suppose to eat all that when he noticed the two plates, two forks and knives and two glasses. Oh, Will was going to eat with him. That was nice, he guessed. 

They ate silently. Nico still trying to start the conversation, but he was no good at all at that. Battle strategies? Fight plans? Sure, he could take the lead on that talk, but this? It was personal and close. He didn’t know what to do. He ate slowly, trying to gain time, but Will was done before him and was getting up.

“Alright, I’m going to give up some unicorn draught and monitor you through the day, if by the afternoon I think you’re better I’ll release to go back to your cabin. Or whatever else you want to shadow travel yourself to death.” Will said with some emotion on his voice Nico thought might be annoyance. He began to consider if he had completely misread thing with Will and he was now mad Nico had ignore his warnings and wasted Will’s efforts to heal him. Maybe Will did care that much about all his patients, and Nico was no exception. The dark haired demigod felt like the balloon of hope inside of him was being emptied. He turned his eyes to his lap, trying to hide his growing disappointment. He should be used to it, shouldn’t him? To finally admit to himself he liked someone only to find out it was one way. Damn his stupid luck and his stupid daydream. 

With Nico’s continued silence and denial to meet Will’s eyes, the blonde felt hurt but decided to leave for a while after giving him the unicorn draught, to clear his thoughts. He handed Nico the glass and turned to leave the infirmary when Nico called him.

“Will” the boy said in a small voice. Nico figured that he still owed Will an apology, for all the troubled he had caused at least. “Sorry for last night. I shouldn’t have pushed myself so far and forced you to heal me again. I promise I’ll try to not do that again and cause you so much trouble.” There, now he could put an end to this stupid hope that had started.   
Will stood there in silence for a moment. Then his featured changed into something similar to anger.

“You damn idiot, Nico di Angelo!” He almost shouted and Nico was shocked. “You drive yourself into unconsciousness AGAIN and you apologize for giving me trouble??”   
Nico didn’t know what to do. Facing an angry Will Solace after his apology was not in his plans.

“I don’t want you to apologize to me because you think you caused me trouble, I want you to be sorry for not taking better care of yourself! For pushing yourself beyond your limits AGAIN! For putting yourself at risk to fade once more and for what? For nothing as important as to stop a war! What were you thinking? Did you wanted to show off your powers to Jason? Cause I don’t think you would do that, but why else would you unnecessarily risk killing yourself by shadow traveling across the country in one jump? Is it a child of the Big Three competition thing?” Will was so angry he didn’t noticed Nico shrinking in the bed until he was done with his saying. 

There was silence for a minute before Will, realizing he shouldn’t have said those things took a deep breath and said 

“Nico. I’m sorry I yelled at you. Please look at me.” Will asked and Nico hesitantly did. Nico wasn’t afraid of Will, but to have someone so emotional about something he did made him want to shadow travel away, not knowing how to handle the attention. He really needed to improve his social skills and not think about running in any situation he was uncomfortable with.

“I… I’m really sorry. But you’re driving me insane here.”Will said in an exasperate tone. “You said you were going to take care of yourself and in less than a month end up in the infirmary again, after fainting from exhaustion because you shadow travel across the whole country for no good reason. Going in one jump was already enough, but you said you would return in two jumps, resting between them. I know you’re becoming better at controlling your powers, I felt it when I examined you that your shadows were more…docile? Well behaved? They seem to be more susceptible to your control, but they are still there and still seem to have a mind of their own, they could still engulf you in them and make you disappear. Why would you make it easier for them to do that?” Will asked in a hurt tone. 

Nico waited to be sure Will was done with his part. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say but he took a breath and started to talk.

“I’m sorry, Will. I’m sorry I didn’t keep my promise. I really believe I would make it to camp with no problems, I did. I guess I was too over confident in the results of my training. It wasn’t a son of Big Three show off. Though we are competitive amongst ourselves, I think I have a better control on that instinct than Jason and Percy. I did it because I thought I would be alright and I wanted to come back to camp soon and see you… you guys!” Nico faltered but tried to fix his revelation. Will noticed his sudden change in phrasing and the high note on the last two words, but now he was too upset to linger on them. 

“I don’t want you to keep hurting yourself, Nico. It makes me sad when you push yourself so hard you almost self destroy yourself.” Will said in such a sad voice Nico had no doubts he meant it. The balloon inside him started to inflate again, but Nico stopped it. It didn’t mean he wasn’t wrong about thinking Will cared for him more than a patient or friend. 

“I know I told you this, but I will take better care of myself, Will. I have to learn to respect my limits, but sometimes I’ll have to push them, so I can become stronger and take control over my powers.” Nico noticed how Will tensed up when he said he would have to push himself eventually. “I’ll be as careful as possible, I can promise that. I don’t want to always be causing trouble and making you have to stay in the infirmary because of me.” Nico finished with a disappointed tone. 

Will was torn between hugging Nico or slapping his face.

“You’re still an idiot, Nico.” Will was trying to contain himself, but Nico and his lack of care for himself was making it so damn hard. “I’ll never feel bothered by you, understand? Never will feel like it’s a burden to heal you or help you. What bothers me is that even with all the people that care for you, you still think you’re a burden to us. Put it in your head. You’re not anyone’s annoying burden. You’re our friend and we want you to be happy and well and live a healthy life! We care about you because we like you, Nico, I like you!” Will said and his eyes went wide with his revelation. 

“What?” Nico asked. His face also showing nothing but surprise.

“I, well, I like you, you know, I’m your friend, so I like you.” Will tried to fix it, stammering all over. 

“Oh.” Nico responded, trying to hide his disappointment, but still not entirely convinced by Will’s clumsy explanation. His reaction had been visceral, like he had meant what he said, but regretted it. Maybe he was ashamed to like Nico? “Or maybe he doesn’t think you’ll like him back, since you’re so closed to him. Maybe he thinks he has no chance and is trying to hide it so it won’t make you uncomfortable.” A voice that sounded a lot like Jason said in Nico’s head. 

Will was so flustered he didn’t noticed and thought he had saved himself from scaring the son of Hades by confessing his feelings so soon. 

The silence came back, some tension in it. Nico was still debating his Jason’s voice conscious advice. Will seemed to think the conversation was over and turned to leave, but Nico, in a incredible bold and stupid move, in his opinion, said “Wait, Will!”

The son of Apollo turned around with what seemed to be hope in his eyes.

“I know I’m supposed to rest, but… Could we take a walk? I think it might do me good and… I… I would like to talk some more with you?” Nico said in a hesitant way. 

Will fired one of his mega watts smiles, relief showing in his face. “Sure, I think you could manage a short walk, yeah. If you get tired we can sit down somewhere.” 

It didn’t pass by Nico the change in the blonde’s face and the hope in his voice to spend more time, alone time, with Nico. He let the balloon inflate, just a little.


	24. Finally a break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the peace, it's almost over.

As they walked around camp they changed the usual superficial random talk. How were things in the infirmary while Nico was gone? Good. Did any new camper showed up recently? Not really, which was strange because they used to get a few every couple of months and it had been a while since they had any newcomers. How was Lou Ellen and Cecil? They are good, but you can ask them yourself, you know? 

Nothing big for almost half an hour. Then Will asked a big one. 

“How had training gone in the Underworld?”

Nico thought about lying or just telling the short Well, you know, productive. But he had taken the initiative here, to call Will for a walk and to talk some more. He had to keep up his side of the conversation, showed he appreciate Will’s company and felt comfortable talking to him. He decided to be bold again and tell a bit more. 

“It was surprising. I was trained by Alecto and it wasn’t anything so physically demanding, but…” He faltered a bit. Will waited patiently and tried not to rush Nico, but still listening intensely. 

Nico took a deep breath. He had to start to trust people. Why not Will Solace, who seemed to care for him so much? Might as well, otherwise what was the point of staying at camp and keep shutting everyone out. He was really getting annoyed by the similarity his conscious voice had to Jason’s. 

“I discover I’m different, well, more different, than I thought.” He started to tell Will about his days in the Underworld. What Hades had said about his powers and the Lotus Casino. Nico wasn’t sure when or how Will discovered he had spent 50 years stuck in time, but mentioning the Casino didn’t surprise him, so someone must have told him at some point. It didn’t bother Nico as much as he thought it would, to have someone know about his past. It made it easier, actually, to explain things. And not having to go to that particular part of his life, when he was a young, happy and bouncy boy, whose sister was still alive and who had no idea about demigods and Gods, was a relief. He might one day be ready to talk about it, but not today. 

Will listened in silence. Never interrupting, which Nico was grateful for. When Nico finished telling about his training he decided to go a bit further and tell about something else.   
“I looked for Leo’s soul.” He kind of blurted out. 

“What?”

“When I was there, in my father’s realm, I tried to call Leo’s soul. Even if he was in Elysium, I would’ve been able to summon him if he was there, if he was a ghost.” Nico explained.

Will took some time to think about that. “You think he chose to reincarnate already?”

Nico had thought about it, but he didn’t think Leo would so quickly opt for that, without coming at least to Hazel to say goodbye or explain what had happened. 

“I don’t think so.” He said with doubt in his voice. “His death felt odd, Solace. It was as if his soul passed to the Underworld but suddenly took a detour and got out very fast. Like it was there for less than a minute, maybe a few seconds only. I don’t know how to explain it. But souls don’t just leave the Underworld once they get there.” 

“You said he had the Physician’s cure, right? Could it be he managed to use it? Maybe his plan did worked and he saved himself?” Will offered. 

Nico had considered that too. He didn’t see how Leo could’ve done that, the explosion destroyed everything, but it made sense. But if Leo had somehow managed to use the cure and was alive, where was he? Nico couldn’t sense him. True, he wasn’t so close to Leo, but Hazel had tried too and also didn’t sense him alive. 

“I really don’t know. I’ll keep looking, either for his ghost or his live self. I just don’t want the others to know just yet, in case I’m mistaken and he is really gone.” Nico said in a thoughtful voice. Will just nodded.

“Thanks” The blonde said. 

“Whatever for?”

“For trusting me. For telling me something you haven’t told anyone else. And for telling me about your training and powers.” Will was smiling and looking straight at Nico. “I will still constantly tell you to be careful and not to overdo it, but I’m actually glad the training is helping you, that now you have guidance to learn how to control your powers and that will lead you to feel safe to live here, at Camp.”

Nico felt himself blush and tried to hide it with his long hair. He would have to cut it at some point, but for now he was relieved he could use it to try and hide his face. Or so he thought. He felt Will’s hand brush his right cheek as the son of Apollo gently tucked his hair behind his ear. Nico felt his cheeks reach lava temperature. 

“Don’t try to hide yourself from me, Death Boy.” Will said in a cheerful tone and kept walking slowly. Nico took a second to start moving again and catch up to Will, too baffled to even mention the hair tucking thing. 

They kept walking and talking for almost 2 hours. Some topics were light and unimportant. Some were more serious and they spent more time talking about those. 

They realized it must’ve been past noon, they would miss lunch if they didn’t go back. Nico actually wanted to suggest they kept walking, but his stomach decided to growl in a very primitive way just as he opened his mouth. Will started laughing and turning back towards camp and the dinning pavilion. Nico cursed his stomach for now being used to get food on a daily basis and no longer dealing with hunger so well. 

“Let’s go, di Angelo. I can’t have you skipping meals in the presence of your doctor.”

“You’re not my doctor, Will. You are not a doctor at all!” Nico shot back. 

“I’m the closest and best thing anyone has to a doctor here! In demigod terms I’m the expert, the specialist! That means you have to do what I say.”  
It was true, really. When it came to demigods, the Apollo healers were sometimes the only thing capable of saving their lives. What would a mortal doctor do to a wound poisoned by a gorgon? Or a stab wound by a celestial bronze weapon? 

“Don’t get cocky, Solace. That’s when you make mistakes.” Nico said with what seemed like a mischievous smile on his lips. Will took the bait. 

“Oh, yeah? Like what?” 

Nico, as swift as a shadow, grabbed Will’s left shoulder and while he pulled him backward with that hand he hooked his ankle behind Will’s own left ankle and lifted his leg as well as the blonde’s. Will could only looked completely surprised as he fell backwards on the sand. 

“Like bragging about your healing skills to someone who only have fighting skills to show for.” Nico said as he started to run towards camp, laughing loudly at Will’s face, still frozen in utter disbelief the son of Hades had actually put him on the ground so easily and effortlessly. 

He snapped out of it with Nico’s laugh (Gods, he found out he really liked that sound!), quickly got up and started to run as fast as he could. He knew he wasn’t going to catch up with Nico, but that didn’t mind he was not going to try. 

Nico actually slowed down and allowed Will to reach him, still laughing a bit. Will had thought about pretending to be offended, maybe mad, but seeing Nico so carefree and laughing out loud made him not care one bit about being so easily dropped on his butt. 

“This will come back to you, di Angelo! I’m giving you fair warning.” Will said instead, trying to sound serious, but his goofy smile on his face ruined the effect. 

“Oh, I’m so terrified.” Nico said in a pretend scared tone, lifting his hands to pretend surrender. Will took the chance to lightly grab Nico’s hand closest to him and bring it down, holding it just for a second or two more than necessary before letting go. 

He saw the pink on Nico’s face, but couldn’t tell if it was from running or embarrassment. Will decided he looked adorable like that, but wouldn’t dare to say it to Nico. Not yet, at least. 

Nico had to leave to the Underworld the next day to keep training, he sent his father a message, asking for help to get there again. Even if he thought he could get there on his own, Will had asked him not to shadow travel this time, Nico felt he owed the son of Apollo that much. Myrron was once again waiting for Nico outside the barrier. Nico wondered, since the hellhound meant no harm to any demigod, if he would be able to cross the barrier, like Angus and Chiron could. 

The walks became their thing. Nico would come back from training, Will would schedule at least a few free afternoons or days to spent with the son of Hades, walking, talking and hanging out, the two of them.

It was niece, felt natural, and both boys drifted closer to each other. With every trip to the Underworld Nico came back more confident in his skills and control over his abilities. He seemed even a bit more confident about himself. Not shying away so easily, not trying to hide from everyone anymore, even talking with more people every now and then. 

Jason, Percy, Annabeth and Piper noticed the two boys spending more time together and Nico’s social improvement and were incredibly happy for him. The son of Hades’ really deserved a break from all the bad luck he had had in his life. 

Pity it wouldn’t last.


	25. Fly, fall, swim.

Nico was running with all he had. He had to get away, find a place to hide, maybe shadow travel if he got to any shades. But the footsteps behind him told him he didn’t have time to look around for a shadow. He kept running. He still believed he could make it. 

Then he tripped on a foot that stuck out suddenly from behind the corner of the Athena’s cabin and felt hard on the ground.  
Less than a second on the ground he felt a weight on his back, pinning him down. 

“Get off!” He demanded.

“No way! Not until you agreed to let me do it!” an incredible determined voice said. 

“Why does it bother you so much? It’s not even yours!” He tried to shout but it was hard to do that with someone practically sitting on your back. 

“I don’t know why it drives me so crazy, but I need to do this, Nico! I suspect since my parentage doesn’t exactly affect me that way it was diverted to you. Specifically to your hair.” Piper said. 

“I don’t care, Piper! Get off! You are not cutting my hair!” Nico was trying to get up, but Piper would use her feet to take his hands balance and he would fall back down. 

Nico had gotten better with dealing with physical contact. But having someone sitting on his back was maddening to him. He considered using his powers to budge the daughter of Aphrodite, but he avoided at all costs using his powers against another demigod. The girl had been chasing him with scissors for almost 2 months now. Nico had avoided and dodged her with success so far. He hadn’t count she would get help. 

Drew Tanaka came from behind the corner of the Athena cabin. After the war the former Aphrodite’s cabins counselor had become a much more amicable person, though she was still snarky or mean sometimes.

“Nothing personal, di Angelo.” Drew said to Nico “She is the cabin’s leader. And she is right. Your hair is a perpetual offense to beauty as it is.” And with that the girl left. 

Stuck with a very stubborn girl on his back, Nico was beginning to consider just letting Piper cut his hair and be freed of the chasing and hiding. Will had been having a lot of fun with it, as well as Jason, who would not, by any means, take sides on that subject. Hazel had tried to convince Nico to just let Piper cut his hair. It had grown too much without any kind of care, so it was a wild thing on top of Nico’s head. But it didn’t bother the son of Hades’. He would put it in a ponytail if it was on his way and let it loose when he wasn’t training, not bothering to care for it much.

He sighed. Having friends, good friends, was hard work. They would sometimes feel free to go over his limits. It had it’s advantages, it made Nico feel more welcomed and accepted. But right now he missed the fear he used to inspire. 

“If I let you cut it, will that be the end of this?” He offered. 

“Cut it, teach you how to care for it and every now and then trim it.” Piper countered. 

“Why?!” 

“I told you, I don’t know why, I think all my fashion sense that I don’t have for myself had to focus on something. Your hair was it.”

“Damn you Aphrodite’s kids.” Nico said half heartedly. He knew Piper meant well. Maybe he needed some advice to keep his hair in a more civilized manner. His mother would never have approved the mess it was right now. “Fine!” he relented. 

Piper almost squealed with delight. 

Two hours later Will saw Nico. And was stunned for a moment. Piper had agreed to keep his hair long enough to put it in a messy ponytail, but still she had worked her skills (which she didn’t knew she had) and gave Nico a very nice hair cut. His black mane wasn’t falling in a hectic manner anymore. She cut it to frame the boy’s face and the shorter strands fell perfectly around his cheekbones, the longest ones just barely touching his shoulders ( it was almost pass his collarbones before). 

“What?!” Nico asked rather rudely. 

Will realized he had been staring. 

“Nothing! Just… well…”

“Just say it, Solace!”

“You look good!” Will blurted out, turning red as soon as he said it.  
Nico was struck silent. 

“Oh. Hum. Thank you.” He finally managed to say. 

The two had become great friends in less than a month, though with Nico’s initial lack of any friends, that wasn’t so hard when there was really not many for him to compare to. In the last few weeks, whenever Nico came back to camp he would spend as much time as possible with Will. They were testing each other’s for the same thing. One would occasinaly bumped the other’s shoulder. Any time an excuse came up, they would hold each other’s hand ( Mostly Will, pretending to check Nico’s health, which only got better, safe a few time he returned from training on the limit of conscious). They would sit a bit closer than normal at camps fire. 

Nico wasn’t sure how to proceed from here, if he should talk to Will, let him know how he felt about him. But he was still afraid. He had made a lot of progress, but he was still shy about his feelings, not really knowing if or what he should do, if it was safe to tell how he felt, if he would not be rejected, though he didn't think so. Neiter did Jason, Hazel or Reyna for that matter. Will on the other hand would never pressure Nico, so he waited until the son of Hades made the first move. He thought that if he saw an opportunity, signs that Nico wanted him to make a move, he would be cautious, but not waste the chance. But he would never try anything without being sure Nico wanted him to. 

Some people had figured it out Nico’s sexuality. The son of Hades’ wasn’t sure how many knew, because apparently they didn’t bother making a big deal of it. They were more preoccupied with stalking the two boys sometimes. He heard rumors that some bets were being placed. At first it made him incredibly mad about it. Then he thought about it. If they were even making bets, it meant it really didn’t bother anyone. He relaxed even more after that. 

His training was progressing, slowly but surely, he was getting better at controlling his powers. His father didn’t take much part of the trainings, but every now and then he would coach Nico on what to do. It was more than Nico had hoped for anyway. 

Nico and Will were still talking when they heard the patrolling horn. Something was happening at the border of camp. 

Nico and Will started running towards the barrier and the sound of the horn, still being blown. Many campers joined them. It was after summer already, there weren’t many demigods around, but there were enough to protect the camp from inside. 

They reached the barrier along with Piper, Clarisse and a few other campers. 

“What?” Clarisse immediately demanded from the demigods on patrolling duty. 

“Up there!” One of them said pointing up

They looked just above the tree lines and saw a form in the sky, flying erratically. As it came close it was possible to see a human form and smaller forms around it, like birds. The smaller forms where unquestionably attacking the bigger form, taking distance and rapidly throwing themselves against the boy trying to fly through the flock. 

It was obvious the boy was Jason. What those things were no one was sure, they were too far. 

“Jason!” Piper yelled. 

The son of Jupiter was getting closer to the barrier and that just made the attacks more vicious. The attackers seemed to be grain spirits, compacted to the size of ravens and airborne in a frenzy.

Jason was almost inside the barrier, but even from far the demigods could see he was bleeding quite a bit. His clothes were clinging to his body, dark spots on the purple fabric of his shirt on the height of his chest, a red line going all the way down his right leg, his arms bearing similar conditions. 

“Archers, prepare to fire once Grace is inside and safe!”Clarisse shouted, the Ares and Apollo campers present with bow and arrows immediately preparing their shot. 

Jason was just a few meters away when one of the bird size monster flew above his head.

“Jason, dodge left!” Nico shouted but it was too late. The thing came down fast and violently, hitting the son of Jupiter on the back of his head. Jason lurched forward and stared to fall. 

Piper screamed. She poured all charmspeak she had while running towards the barrier, to get to Jason who was going to land outside the camp’s limits, yelling to Jason to wake up and fly, but the boy was out cold. 

Nico didn’t think, he acted on instinct. Jason was falling through the tress canopies now, where there was a lot of shadows. Nico focused on a branch he calculated he could get to before Jason fell by it, maybe he could grab him there. He jumped into a shadow casted by a tree inside camp. 

He appeared at the planned branch, but missed Jason by a second. He then focused on the falling boy and melted into shadows again. He appeared just beside Jason, falling with him. He threw his arms around his friend and again summoned the shadows around them, taking both of them into them. 

He had the sense of mind to plan his landing while falling with Jason. If he tried to show up at the same shadow he had used first, the energy of the fall might hurt Jason even more. So he thought about the beach, a specific spot he and Will had sat on many times, where some trees almost reached the edge of the beach and their branches would throw shade on whoever wanted to sit by the water but didn’t want to endure the sun too much (Nico, duh). 

They still appeared just above the water and hit it with a splash. It wasn’t too deep, but deep enough to absorb the impact of their fall. 

Nico, still holding Jason around the chest, kicked and brought them up to the surface. He wasn’t a great swimmer, but he managed to take Jason to the shore and pull him out of the water. 

He had barely got him on dry sand when his vision started to blur. “No, I have to get him help, not yet!” he thought desperately. 3 jumps in row, even though the distance was small, was still a lot to go through in less than a minute. 

He heard voices and turned to see Piper, Will, Clarisse and the other campers running towards them. 

“Piper, let me check him up first.” Will said in such a commanding voice Piper slowed down a bit to allow Will to reach Jason just a moment before she did. 

Clarisse noticed Nico swaying a bit and lost no time in putting her arm around his waist and Nico’s arm around her shoulders, stabilizing him. Nico was fighting to stay awake, worried about Jason, he could barely mumble a thank you. 

The son of Jupiter had many scratches, bruises and two deep gashes on him, one on his chest and one on his right leg. He was still bleeding, but the dive cleaned up a bit, making it look less worse than before. 

Will had one hand on Jason’s forehead and another on his chest, he was praying to his father and started to sing a hymn. 

Jason’s eyes fluttered open after a few moments. 

Piper, who had been kneeling across from will let go a breath she had been holding with relief. 

“Don’t try to sit up, we’ll get a stretcher to take you to the infirmary. Eat this.” Will said putting a small square of ambrosia in Jason’s mouth and taking a bottle of water from one of the patrolling demigods, lifting Jason’s head and giving him a few sips. 

“Is he going to be ok?” Piper and Nico almost asked simultaneously. 

“Yeah, the wounds aren’t poisoned. He needs rest and ambrosia, but he’ll live. The fall would’ve killed him though.” Will turned to Nico “Well done, di Angelo.”

“Thank you! Thank you Nico!” Piper said in an emotional tone, she was trying to hold back tears. She had been in a situation like this before with Jason. She was so happy it hadn’t come to the same result. 

“I’m so happy you’re going to be fine!” She told her boyfriend, giving him a quick kiss on the forehead. 

Jason still seemed to be a bit disoriented, but he smiled at Piper. Then his face got serious and he said “We got serious problems.”

Of course, thought Nico. Then his vision blurred even more, starting to become dark, his mind just said: Enough, nothing new here, let’s sleep. 

And he was out.


	26. Can I sleep now?

Nico woke up once again to the white ceiling of the infirmary. He looked sideways and saw Piper, sitting by a bed where Jason was lying. The boy looked exhausted, dark circles under his eyes. 

“Hey” Nico said in a raspy voice. His mouth was dry.

“Nico! Hi! So glad you’re awake. How are you feeling?” Piper asked

Nico took the glass of water on the night table next to his bed and drank a bit. 

“OK, just hungry, I think. How’s Jason?”

“Tired. He had a concussion, Will heal it as much as possible, but said he still had to be kept awake for a few hours, to be sure he’s ok. I’ve been using charmspeaking to keep him awake and alert.” Piper said in a tired voice, her face also showed signs of a sleepless night. 

“I think 12 hours is enough, can’t I sleep now?” Jason asked in a slow voice. 

Just then Will walked in. “I’ll let you know in a minute, Jason.” The son of Apollo placed his hand on Jason’s forehead and focused. He seemed pleased with his examination. “ There are no signs of any injuries anymore. You’re free to sleep, Grace.”

“Finally. Thank you, Solace. I’ll see you later Pipes, thank you for staying with me.” Jason said, his eyes already closing. 

Piper gave a kiss on his cheek. “Sleep well, Sparky.”

In less than a minute Jason’s breathing indicated he was already asleep. 

“Did he tell anyone what happened?” Nico inquired. 

“Yeah, I’ll tell you.” Will said.

“I’m going to shower and hit the bed at my cabin, boys. I’ll be back in a few hours to check on him. Thank you again Will, and you Nico, for saving him.” Piper said while she got up, gave Nico’s arm a gentle squeeze, nodded to Will and left. 

Will grabbed Piper’s chair and sat between Nico’s and Jason’s bed, closer to Nico’s bed. He started to tell Jason’s report. 

Since the end of the war with Gaia the monsters the Mother Earth had risen and incited against the demigods were acting even more violently and frequently, attacking young demigods not yet found by either camps, attacking campers on their homes or whenever they were out and distracted in the mortal world. Camp Jupiter and Half Blood had soon reacted, coordinating many groups to hunt and exterminate the monsters. The first few weeks had been intense, they would track down and deal with at least half a dozen to a dozen monsters, saving a few unknown demigods in the process. 

But after two months, the attacks ceased. The monsters went dead silent. Some demigods were naïve enough to think they had dealt with all of them and now things would go back to the normal attack once in a while. The older and more experienced demigods knew it was too good to be true. It was a fact they had killed a lot of monsters, but it seemed they had suddenly vanished, and that was too easy. Nico hadn’t been sent on any of the hunting missions, since he was still weak in the beginning and then training since to be able to trust his powers. 

Jason told them he was coming from building a shrine on the foot of the Yellowstone Volcano, Caldera, for a minor deity. He was a few kilometers away from camp when he saw what looked like a flock of black birds flying towards him. When they continued to come straight at him instead of dispersing, like birds usually did, Jason knew something was up and drawed his sword. 

The things immediately bombarded him, taking up speed and shooting themselves against the son of Jupiter, hitting wherever he could. Jason manipulated the wind, threw them out of balance and sliced them with his blade. He tried to figure out what were those things, but they moved to fast for him to see them properly. He could hear them almost talking, but mostly making noises, he heard a few words in the wind around him “Take him!” “We need a strong one, he is” “We need more of them” “Take him, now!” “She will be pleased”

Using his powers to keep himself up and trying to hinder the attackers, he was getting tired quickly. He tried to fly low and through the trees canopies, but that seemed to give the small bastards an advantage, since there it was harder to see them without so much light and they came from behind branches and tree trunks. Jason rise in the sky again and focused on slashing the ones coming in time and flying faster towards camp. The things kept making noises and sometimes made sense “Won’t escape demigod” “Must take him, he has power” “Very useful if she turns him” “Very useful dead too” “We need more, not enough yet”

That’s when he was almost reaching the barrier and one of the things hit him, knocking him out. 

And here they were.


	27. Combined efforts

They were sitting at the Big House meeting room, the counselors that decided to stay for the year, Chiron and an IM connecting them to Camp Jupiter, Reyna and Frank on the other side of the call. They had been informed of what had happened to Jason and were there to discuss the matter. 

“So, any ideas?” Frank asked. 

There was silence for a while, then Piper said “Well, from what Jason heard those things saying, they wanted to take Jason to a she, whoever she is, because she needed more and they wanted Jason because he was strong, so I assume they wanted more demigods?” 

Everyone took a moment to consider this. 

“You are probably right, Ms McLean.” Chiron concluded. “But, why? That was an organized attack, they were searching for a demigod, question is, were they searching for any demigod, or were they patrolling the skies hoping to run into Mr Grace?”

“I think it was dumb luck, they just happened to find me on a search mission, it felt like that to me, at least. But, if these weird monsters were working together and searching for demigods to take, alive or dead apparently, should we assume there are more monsters doing the same? Could that be why they suddenly went quite? They are on a mission now?” Jason said.

“I don’t know about that, but with all this information something makes sense.” Reyna said “We haven’t got as many new arrivals as we usually do during these 3 and a half months post war. I know on those first weeks we lost many to the rampage of the monsters, but now that they were gone, or so we thought, we still haven’t been receiving the numbers of recruits expected. The wolves are sent out by Lupa, but we see them returning with no one, as if it was a false lead. How are your satyrs doing?”

Grover, sitting by Chiron’s side told them almost the same. “We get reports that indicate the presence of demigods in the city and around the country, but by the time we get there to investigate there are no more signs. The closest we got were a few missing person cases, all young teens gone without a trace. We tried to investigate, but there was nothing to go on. We thought we had arrived too late on the first cases, but now it’s happening too often. Monsters aren’t so smart or efficient, it’s almost like someone is tracking these unknown demigods faster than we can and getting to them before we do. There has also been the cases of Millerd, Hocks and Grint. Each one last report was that they had found the demigods each was sent to investigate and were going to approach them, but then we heard nothing more of them. Millerd’s wife is a dryad and they shared an empathy link. She said she felt his fear and death less than a day from his last report. We assume the same happened to Hocks and Grint.” Grover said sadly. 

Again the room was silent. 

“So someone, a she, to be more specific, is tracking demigods and sending monsters to collect them?” Clarisse said in a dangerous angry tone. Will, who was sitting by her side leaned a bit away from her. 

“We don’t know if the events are connected, Clarisse, but I would think it is a safe bet.” Reyna said. 

“Ok, so what do you do now?” Piper asked.

The old centaur thought for a moment. 

“We will have to tread carefully, we don’t know what is going on. Reyna, do you think Lupa would share information on demigods she is tracking? If they are nearer to us, we can send a extraction group with a satyr to retrieve the demigod safely, and we will do the same to you, letting you know of any demigods nearer to camp Jupiter so that you can get to them as fast as possible. We can handle exchange of demigods after they are in a safe place.”

Reyna thought about it. “I don’t think Lupa will like it, but I also think we don’t have a choice, we don’t know how many demigods we lost already.”

“Alright, ask for a meeting with her and let us know as soon as possible so we can start to coordinate.” Chiron proposed. 

Reyna nodded and dispersed the IM. 

“All of you, be careful, more than you already are, when outside the camps borders. I’ll have to Iris message the campers who left after summer and warn them. Clovis?” Chiron called.

Nico elbowed the son of Hypnos on the shoulder, who was napping between conversations.

“Huh? Yes Chiron?” he said sleepily. 

“I’ll need your and your cabins help. Warn as many demigods you can tonight during their sleep.” Chiron ordered. 

Clovis nodded and his head started to bent forward again. 

“Counselors, you need to talk to your cabins and let them know we will be working along the satyrs and probably camp Jupiter in extracting missions. At least two fighters and a satyr will be sent in each mission. I will contact the Hunters. If there are no questions, I would say the meeting is over.” Chiron added in a final tone. 

The demigods got up (Nico almost shook Clovis out of his chair so the son of Hypnos would wake up) and left to talk to their siblings. Nico and Jason, having none, started walking together, towards the dining hall, were they sat on by the Hades’ table. 

“What do you make of this?” Nico asked his friend. 

“I have no idea. Monsters chasing demigods it’s normal, expected. But, taking them? Were? Why? For who?”

Nico also wanted to know that. He had the feeling once they found out things would get even worse.


	28. A nice surprise

Things started to get a little better. The camps started to coordinate information, missions with satyrs and warriors were dispatched and most got to the demigods in time, usually taking a monster or two in the process. Camp Jupiter was having as much success as them. It lasted almost until January, when the monsters again seemed to improve their search and find skills and the missions started to arrive too late on some cases. 

Nico took part on a few missions, but he was still training in the Underworld for a better part of his time. Of all the missions he took part, 4 were successful, 2 failed. He was not happy. 

They hadn’t lost any of the older demigods, sent on those missions, but they got news of 3 attacks on demigods who were already campers and had gone home after summer. Two survived and killed their attackers, one, a Demeter’s daughter, fought bravely, but died. The monsters apparently didn’t take her because she had been wounded but managed to run, eventually succumbing to her wounds near a corn field, where she was found by the farmer. 

The demigods at camp were sad to hear of this. So soon after surviving Gaia’s war, to still lose demigods in a brutal way was heartbreaking. 

Nico was again down in the Underworld, more determined than ever to improve his fighting skill, so he could help more. 

Hades had really gone all the way to help his son become a better fighter. Not only coaching him eventually and having Alecto as his personal trainer, he would summon famous and expert warriors to train Nico in different styles and weapons. 

Nico had improved his sword skills amazingly. He tried the javelin and spear, but it would never be his weapon of choice, he gave Clarisse extra credits for being so skilled with it. He got better in archery, but it would also never be his strong suit. 

He did discover a natural talent for another weapon. Daggers and knives. He was limb, fast and lithe, he could attack and defend with those weapons with an ease he didn’t anticipated. He was sure he still couldn’t take Annabeth on a knife fight, but he was better at it than he thought he could be. He told Reyna about it on one of his visits and after a couple of weeks when he returned to Camp Jupiter the Praetor gave him a gorgeous and deadly gift. Three daggers, one of celestial bronze, one of imperial gold and a third with silver and one edge of Styngian iron, in case he wasn’t fighting a werewolf but only had that dagger, it would still be useful. He thought he must have thanked her at least 40 times the next two days he spent at camp Jupiter.

His weapon of choice was still his dark sword, though. He felt it was a part of him already. It’s Underworld power meant Nico could feel it’s aura, almost a presence to it, and as he got better, the aura got bigger, stronger too. 

All in all, Nico was pleased with his progress. So was Alecto, though the fury still warned him there was more ground to cover before he was fully trained. Nico didn’t mind. He was more comfortable with his powers now, his shadows and darkness more obedient. He could shadow travel more without feeling so drained, though he still had to rest after a big jump or after consecutives jumps. His control of shadows surrounding him was also better, he could bent them around, summon them to him. It was harder the brighter the place was, but he was getting better. He also invested in improving his geokensis, thought he suspected on that department Hazel would always surpass him. When he went to camp Jupiter he would spent days training with Hazel, passing to her all knowledge about the powers they shared he thought would help her. The daughter of Pluto learned fast, and indeed overmatched all Nico's move when it came to controlling the earth and rocks. 

When at camp Half Blood, and there were no rescue missons, Nico would spend time with Will (neither had made a move yet, but Nico was getting closer, he thought.), Piper and Jason. He started training with Lou Ellen on a few occasions. The daughter of Hecate had seen Nico on the training grounds with Jason one afternoon and asked Nico to help her train. At first the son of Hades thought she wanted him to train her with a sword, which they did too, but she wanted him to train some of his powers against some of hers. Nico refused at first, but she convinced him to start slowly, and he found out it had been a good idea, to train with a living demigod from another parentage that could use magic as well. 

Lou Ellen was a formidable opponent, her control over the Mist and magic incredible. Nico would have to introduce Hazel to the girl, maybe they could train together, with both being so gifted with the control over the Mist. 

It was during one of his stays in the Underworld that Nico felt a weird sensation. He tried to pin point it and after a while he managed to identify what it was. Leo. 

He immediately IM camp Half Blood, calling for Will. As soon as the blonde showed up on the message he asked “Is is true? He is back?”

Will smiled and responded “Yeah, Nico, he just landed on the strawberry field less than 5 minutes ago, with his giant golden dragon and a girl with him. She is really beautiful and they seem to be together.”

Nico was so happy and relieved. 

“I know you are busy down there, but Chiron has announced a celebration party to take place in 4 days, so that some of the Romans and greek demigods can get here. Since it’ll be the weekend and near winter break for those in schools, I think we can expect a lot of campers to show up. Will you be able to come?” Will asked with a hopeful face

“Wouldn’t miss it.” Nico answered and saw Will’s smile grow. He really needed to gather the courage to talk to Will. That smile and everything about the blond made Nico feel his insides were jelly, except for those damn butterflies, now probably the size of eagles, flapping around in his stomach. At the party. Yeah, he would talk to Will at the party. Ask him to walk to the beach and tell him. 

“Tell Leo I’m coming and that I’ll need answers.” Nico said with fake malice. 

Will laughed. “He just got back to camp, di Angelo, you already want to scare him away? Besides, Piper and Jason almost killed him already, so much they squeezed him in a hug.”

Nico laughed. He was so happy his friends finally had a break, they needed. They all needed.


	29. The ripple effect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brace yourselves, it will get rough now.

The celebrating party was schedule to take place on Saturday evening of that week. Nico told Will he would be arriving Thursday, along with most of the Romans who were going to participate. 

But Thursday came, the Romans arrived, and no Nico. Will blamed on the weird time perception in the Underworld and decided to wait until Friday to IM Nico in case he didn’t show up until the afternoon. He didn’t. 

Will tried sending Iris Message to Nico, but none got through again. Maybe it took the call to be made from the Underworld to reach the mortal world.  
Hazel and Reyna, who were also waiting for Nico to show up, asked Will for news, but he had none. 

“He might show up tomorrow just before the party starts, the way he gets lost in time while training there.” Will said with some humor. It wasn’t a lie, more than once Nico lost track of time when in his father’s realm, though he was getting better at telling time when he was there and even managed to keep his weekly appointments most times.  
“I hope he shows up soon, I miss him.” Hazel said with a smile. The daughter of Pluto had been in great spirits after seeing Leo. She and Frank had hugged him so much Leo had to ask them to let him go so he could breathe. 

Leo was also very happy. He introduced Callypso to everyone with a pride and satisfied smile. The goddess and sorceress was kind, polite and beautiful. She took Leo’s puns and jokes in good nature and got along well with the son of Haphaestus’ friends. When Percy and Annabeth arrived on Friday there was a moment of tension in the air, but Callypso was graceful and told Percy she forgave him, besides, if he hadn’t broken his promise she might not have met Leo. 

The son of Poseidon seemed beyond embarrassed and guilty for neglecting his promise to the girl, but after a while and talking to her the mood seemed to lighten up. Annabeth surprisingly got along well with Callypso. 

Saturday arrived and still no sign of the son of Hades. Will was just hoping he would show up in time for the party, though if he came to camp on Sunday sure it was Thursday he wouldn’t be surprised. He asked Hazel if she could reach him, but she explained that her situation didn’t really allow her to call attention to herself in the Underworld. She was trying to sense her brother, trying to find out if he was in the Underworld or not, but it wasn’t her strongest ability. They would just have to wait then. 

Underworld, Thursday

 

Nico was getting ready to shadow travel to camp after one very intense and tiring training session, he was ready to spent a few days resting. He was in such a good mood the beings in the Underworld, used to only gloomy and deathly vibes, gave him wide space to pass, not sure of what to do with such positive energy in such a dark place.  
Even Hades told his son he was starting to scare and disturb the servants with his happiness, though it seemed the Lord of the Dead was hiding how pleased he was himself by his son behavior. Nico had to hold in a laugh, he didn’t think his father would appreciate it, and promised he was going to camp in a few hours and return with a more appropriate serious demeanor after a few days. 

Nico was just going to pet Cerberus before leaving. The giant 3 headed dog liked the son of Hades very much and Nico liked it. He would go more often, but getting pass the judges table where Minos sat was always risky, Nico wasn’t afraid of Minos now, but he still wanted to avoid the former Ghost King as much as possible. He manage to sneek pass the judges, using the lines of spirits awaiting judgement to conceal him. He got to Cerberus, who noticed the son of his master and immediately drooped on his back, shaking the ground, and offer Nico his belly to be rubbed. It was comical, Nico used his hands and arms to try and pet the enormous dog, but he was sure it was barely enough to tickle the big animal. Just as he was saying his goodbye to the canine he heard a commotion at the very back of the long line. He decided to check it out, he was in his father’s service, after all. 

He should have gone straight to camp, it would have saved him so much pain. 

A ghost was causing havoc at the end of the line, the being seemed to be in panic. Nico approached him with caution, not wanting to make him even more agitated.  
“Help them! Please, someone has to help them! I need to go back! Let me go back!” The ghost was screaming.

Even in his ghostly form and despair Nico could see the ghost must’ve been very handsome in his life, his face had strong and defined features. 

“Sir, what’s the problem?” Nico asked

The ghost turned to Nico and started to talk very fast

“My children! They are in danger! I couldn’t protect them, I tried, but that thing was too strong, too big. I told them to run and I tried hold it back, but then others came, too many, I tried to stop them, but I couldn’t. The one eyed monster hit me with his fist and I hit the wall of the house. I think… I think I died then. But my children! They wil go after them! Please, you have to help me! I need to go back, I need to save them! They have no fault, they didn’t choose to be children of a Goddess!”

At that Nico’s body tensed. When he said monster with one eye he started to suspect, but now the ghost confirmed it. He could see throught the Mist. Probably attracted the attention of one of the Goddess and they had a thing and ta-da! Demigods were born and were now in danger. What else was new? 

“Where?” Nico simply asked.

The ghosts showed so much relief it was almost like Nico had already saved his children. 

Camp Half Blood, Saturday

 

It was around 11:20 in the morning, the preparations for the party were done, it was suppose to start at 5pm. 

The camp buzzed with excitement. Many demigods had come to camp to celebrate Leo’s return. 

The seven, plus Reyna and Calypso, were taking a slow walk around camp, talking about what had happened to each after the war. Leo, who had apologized many times to Piper, Jason, Hazel and Frank for not calling sooner, told about the places he and Calypso had visited. 

They were near Thalia’s tree by now, taking their time and just enjoying the walk and company. Around Thalia’s tree there was a decent size clearing, making the particular important tree look even bigger and majestic, with the golden fleece secured on it. 

The demigods were laughing at something Percy had said when they heard shouts coming from the clearing, just by the tree lines further from the barrier. They exchanged looks before starting to run towards the noise. 

It was cold, even inside the camp, but outside the barrier there was about 12cm of snow on the ground. They saw two small figures running as fast as they could towards camp, a third figure running a bit further back, it seemed to be having difficulties in keeping up the running, dressed in black and carrying a sword with the darkest blade a weapon could have. Chasing them and coming out of the trees were almost 10 monsters. 

Nico stopped and turned around, yelling at the younger children, probably for them to keep running. The kids stopped, looked at Nico as if they didn’t want to leave him. Nico shouted at them again and they started to run once more. 

The snow shifted in front of Nico and a chasm opened just in time to swallow 3 monsters, running so eager to get the demigod they didn’t notice the change of terrain in time. As they fell and the other monsters slowed down to reconsider their options, Nico summoned skeleton warriors, about a dozen of them. 

The remaining monsters started to react. 

A huge one, looked to be a Cyclops from afar, and two smaller ones jumped the crack on the ground and, after the big monster swatted two of the skeletons warriors aside, kept running towards the smaller kids. 

As the skeletons engaged the other monsters, Nico turned to the 3 that got passed him. He had to hold back them at least until the two kids got passed the barrier. The biggest threat was the Cyclops, who was fast despite his size. Nico took aim and threw his sword as hard as he could. By luck or because of his improved skills, he didn’t care, the blade pierced through the monster’s neck from behind, slashing all the way until almost all the blade came out through the front of it’s neck. The Cyclops burst into dust, covering the two smaller pursuers, two emposai, in it. The demons had to stop and it took them some moments to get rid of all the dust in their eyes, nose and mouth, making just enough time to guarantee the two children made it to the barrier before they could be caught. 

Still, the emposai dashed forward, knowing they wouldn’t catch the two demigods before they crossed the barrier. 

Nico had no time to pay attention to them. He drew two of his daggers from the sheaths on his hips, the celestial bronze on his left, the imperial gold on his right. His third dagger was concealed on his right upper arm, in a device that would shoot it forward with a specific movement from Nico’s wrist (he had gotten himself cut more times he cared for practicing that move). 

His skeleton warriors were dealing with the monsters better than they would’ve a year ago. Nico was able to summon better warriors and give them more strength now. But the son of Hades was reaching his limits, he had found the two demigods near a town called Sleepy Hollow and had been fighting monsters for two days straight, trying to get them to camp. He had shadow traveled with the kids as much as he could, but he had come straight from training in the Underworld, and the chase was making it difficult for him to have any rest. The fact none of them had eaten in a day and a half was also debilitating Nico. 

He saw more monsters coming from beyond the trees. It had been like that since day one. He would put down 2 monsters, 3 more would show up in a short time. What was going on? How were they so organized?

He just finished dispatching a drachanea to Tartarus. He wouldn’t win against so many monsters. He summoned 5 more warriors to cover him while he made it to camp. He could deal with the 2 emposai that had gone by him and regroup inside camp. 

But when he turned towards the camp he noticed something strange. What the heck had happened to the barrier??

 

From afar the demigods running towards the barrier and the fight could just watch the events. Jason took flight to try and get there faster. He saw Nico throw his sword at the Cyclops and cursed the fact the son of Hades had parted with his most important weapon. 

The two kids managed to cross the barrier just as the emposai were gaining on them. But even though the demigods had already crossed the barrier the demons kept coming, running with determination. 

They got to the barrier, took a small container from a cord around their hips, drank from it and placed their hands against the barrier. Something started to happen to the invisible wall. It started to become a sick, yellow color, spreading from the emposai hands and quickly taking more and more of the barrier. Jason had a real bad feeling about it. He put all his might in flying faster, trying to make it to a part still clear of the barrier. 

But whatever it was, it was too fast. The color spread taking more than half of the barrier before Jason got close enough to cross it. He still tried, but hit it like it was a concrete wall. 

The son of Jupiter lost the control of the winds and fell to the ground, dazed. The emposai on the other side of the barrier laughed at him. 

In a short moment the other demigods reached Jason, all pounded against the barrier, but it did nothing to it and now they could see that all of the barrier was the yellowish color. They could still see through it just fine, but all was tinted yellow. 

They had been trapped inside camp. 

The two demigods children were also by the barrier, yelling “Nico! Nico, we made it! Come too!”

The older demigods looked at them and Piper went to them, trying to calm them down but still keeping an eye on the outside, where the situation was going from bad to worse.


	30. From bad to worse

Nico had frozen for a moment, not sure what was going on or what to do. He saw Jason hit the now yellow barrier and fall. He understood that whatever those emposai had done to the barrier the demigods could no longer cross it. He decided to take out the two emposai still pressing their hands against the barrier. Maybe without them the spell would be broken. 

He had just started running towards them, the snow and the wound he had on his right leg slowing him down a bit, when he noticed a movement on his left. How did he not notice it before?

The emposai on his left gave him a wicked smile before using her tail to sweep under the son of Hades, causing him to tumble forward. Nico was preparing his body to fall, roll and get up, still holding his daggers, when he barely had time to see the emposai’s donkey leg coming at him, kicking him hard just below his ribcage and dead center. 

The pain he felt was so much he didn’t even noticed he let go of the daggers and was flung almost a meter to his right, only stopping because he hit a tree trunk with his side. He was gasping for air, his vision had black and red spots dancing around, his mind was blank, focusing only on trying to breathe and not passing out from the excruciating pain.

With his peripheral vision he saw two mismatched pair of legs approaching. He tried to think of a way to fight, but he couldn’t move. He could barely breathe. By the Gods his whole abdomen was a ball of pain right now. 

The emposai reached him and pulled him by the hair into a sitting position, his back against the tree trunk. 

“Well, well. We finally caught you, demigod. I’ll tell you this though, so far you were the most troublesome one. You cost us a lot of monsters.” The one on Nico’s right said, smiling wickedly. Nico thought she had been the one to kick him. “But, it will be worth it. You know there’s a bounty on your head in the old world? I bet you didn’t know. Lycaon had a mate, you see, and she would pay a pretty price for you, preferably alive, but dead as well.”

Nico couldn’t think of nothing to say to that, he could barely think as it was. 

“Many of the monsters here would gladly deliver you to her, I would even stick around to watch her skin you alive for killing her mate. But, alas, someone else also wants you, and she takes priority on the matter. I’m betting she will be mighty pleased to gain such a powerful demigod. Though, for a son of Hades I thought you would be stronger.” The same emposai kept babbling. Has she faced Nico at full strength she wouldn’t be alive to say that. 

“Vanessa, enough. He doesn’t need to know that, he’s just cargo now, it’s beneath us.” The one on Nico’s left cut in. 

Nico was listening to them, he was taking short and fast breaths, but at least he could breathe now. 

“Oh, I know, but it will be such fun to torment him until we deliver him to mistress.” Vanessa, apparently, reasoned. “Besides, after such an intense hunt to get this one, I think we deserve a forward payment, don’t you Maude? Something about this one smells different, but so nice” She said eying Nico’s throat with greedy eyes. 

The son of Hades knew emposai appreciated demigod’s blood, not only for magic, but to strengthen themselves. Apparently it was able to give them a boost in energy for a while. They were wielders of the Mist, Hecate being whom they usually adored and served, so they had many uses for ingredients such as demigod’s blood. 

Too bad for them Nico had other plans. He knew it would hurt more than anything, but he had to try it. If he could get rid of these two and get to the shadows being cast by the sun just behind the tree’s trunk, he might be able to shadow travel one last time. He didn’t think he would be able to get across whatever they did to the barrier, but he could get to the Underworld, recover there before coming back to fight. He readied himself.

“I suppose we deserve it…” Maude was saying when Nico acted. He flicked his wrist and the silver and Styngian iron dagger came to his hand. He used all his strength and will power to launch his body forward, stabbing the first emposai, Vanessa, through the neck. As she dissolved into shadows and was absorbed by the Styngian iron of the blade he tried to make it to the second, but the pain was almost making him vomit and he took a second longer than expected. Maude, recovered from the element of surprised and grabbed Nico’s wrist before the blade got to her. 

“You killed her! You killed my sister!” She was snarling. The emposai started to squeeze Nico’s wrist. The son of Hades held back a noise of pain, refusing to show it to his enemy.  
The demigods on the other side of the barrier were pounding the wall, yelling at the monsters. Hazel was trying with all her might to use her powers on the ground beyond the barrier, but they wouldn’t go through it, same with Jason’s powers. More demigods were arriving at the barrier, joining the 9 who got there first. Annabeth yelled to an Apollo camper “Get Lou Ellen and the rest of the Hecate cabin here, now!” He nodded and sprinted towards the cabins. 

“Hazel, I don’t know if they are using the Mist, but see if you can analyze it and find out. Calypso, you’re a sorceress, maybe you can try it too.” Annabeth asked. Calypso moved forward and placed her hands on the barrier, her face focused.

Hazel was already trying to undo the change, but whatever it was they had done, it was strong. The two emposai that had changed the barrier were still there, hands against the new one. They were laughing at the demigods. 

“Don’t bother, this is beyond you. Just sit back and enjoy the show!” One of them said. 

They saw the Nico/ emposai situation with helplessness. Jason and Percy were furious, the son of Jupiter airborne again, using his sword to try to find a weak spot on the barrier, Percy doing the same on ground level. Reyna was trying with all her might to send Nico some of her strength and energy, but it wouldn’t go pass the barrier.  
The emposai holding Nico’s wrist kept squeezing merciless, Nico already knew what was going to happen and tried to brace himself. He let go of his third dagger, no longer able to keep his grip on it. The pain started to get sharper and then he heard before he felt his wrist bones breaking. He bit his lips and held the scream of pain wanting to leave his mouth. 

“You shouldn’t have done that to my sister, you insolent demigod. The only reason I won’t kill you right away is because I know you will suffer worse fate at the hands of my mistress!” She said in a furious tone “Doesn’t mean you have to get there unharmed and in one piece.” She smiled an evil smile. Nico was hyperventilating, trying to manage the pain in his abdomen and wrist. “Oh, I don’t want you to pass out just yet.” The emposai said in false sweet voice. She touched Nico’s abdomen and the pain there subsided by a fourth of it, it wasn’t a lot, but it was enough for Nico to be able to breathe easier. He was stunned. He had no idea emposai had healing abilities. Though he suspected she had only subdued the pain and not really healed him. 

He didn’t have time to think much of it. She grabbed him by his neck and slammed him against the tree. His head hit the trunk so hard he heard something crack and thought it might have been his skull, but it was the tree bark, pieces of it cutting into Nico’s scalp. 

His head was spinning, his back ached from hitting the tree trunk, but he was still conscious. 

“You seemed to be very tough demigod, I haven’t heard you scream in pain once. Maybe we should change this, after all, we do have an audience.” Maude said with malice in her voice. Nico almost couldn’t keep up with what she was saying, his head still spinning and his sight not focusing much. 

The demigods behind the barrier started to shout and yell, Nico couldn’t make out what, but he could tell they were angry. 

He heard something shuffling on the ground then felt pain as the emposai took hold of both his broken wrist and his left wrist and lifted them up above his head, making Nico stretched his back, which only caused more pain to his back and abdomen. He didn’t understand what was going on, his mind trying to clear itself. The shouting became even angrier, downright furious. 

The emposai laughed. She almost gently placed his hands against the tree trunk above his head, his right hand, then held it open, and placed his left hand in front, holding Nico’s fingers to keep his hands opened. 

“Let’s see how you deal with this one, demigod!” She whispered in his ear. 

A breath passed, then Nico felt a white hot unbearable pain shooting through both his hands.


	31. Break it!

Hazel was screaming in rage and fury, the earth under them trembling so violently the two new demigods fell down. The earth waves moving reached the whole camp, but wouldn’t go beyond the barrier. 

Chiron and the rest of camp were on their way to where they were gathered. Clarisse and the Ares cabin members were ahead of everyone. Lou Ellen and all the her siblings present at camp also running towards them. Will and the Apollo healers were just a few steps behind when they heard a horrible agonizing scream. Will felt his heart stop and his blood ran cold. He knew that voice, though he never heard it manifest any kind of pain noise. He started running harder. 

Nico was hearing this horrible sound, like a wild animal screaming. When he felt his throat hurting he realized it was him, he was making that sound. Never in his life he felt so much physical pain. It was blinding, maddening. He didn’t know it was possible to feel such thing and survive it. When he ran out of air he began hyperventilating again, trying to reign in his pain, which was still unbearable. It made the pain in his abdomen and broken wrist feel like nothing. 

“Whoa, you got strong lungs, son of Hades.” Maude said in a pleased tone. “I like that sound.” She said and gave the silver and stygian iron dagger’s hilt a slap, sending another shock of pain through Nico’s hands. Nico let out a yelp of pain, biting his lips to cut it short. 

He was vaguely aware that his friends had double the attacks on the barrier, desperate to reach him. 

On the other side of the barrier, the demigods were first in shock. When the emposai had lifted Nico’s hands, causing him pain, they were already angry, but when she carefully picked up the dagger, touching it’s hilt as little as possible they had become furious and desperate. They could anticipate what was going to happen to their friend. They tried to call the emposai attention, threatened her, anything. The two by the barriers were watching the scene like it was the best thing they had ever seen. 

Jason tried with all his might summon a lightning bolt to hit the emposais by the barrier, he could feel the lightning outside, but couldn’t command it. He was so angry at himself for not being able to help Nico. 

Then when the emposai prepared the blade to pierce Nico’s hands, Hazel had screamed in fury and frustration for not being able to reach her brother. She was almost irrational now, so desperate she was to get to Nico. 

When the monster ran the blade clean trough the son of Hades hands and Nico let out that horribly pain filled scream they were all silent for a second, then exploded in curses and attacked the barrier again, to no avail. 

The emposai kneeling by Nico seemed very pleased, and she slapped the hilt of the dagger, causing Nico to let out a short shout of pain. The monster was turning towards the barrier and opening her mouth when she suddenly stopped. The demigods could see her nose moving, like she was sniffing for something. She abruptly turned back to Nico, her face showing surprise and hunger for something. 

They couldn’t hear her, but it seemed something about Nico had caught her attention.

“Your blood!” She said next to Nico “It smells different, so old! I’ve never found blood like this before” She was talking more to herself than him. She seemed hypnotized by the red lines running down Nico’s hands and wrists, some drops falling on the son of Hades head and face. Nico was almost uncouscious by now. The emposai again touched him and he felt s small surge of energy. “Why is your blood so old, demigod?” She demanded “It smells decades old, such power in it I bet” she completed, licking her lips. 

Nico felt a dread for that action. Something told him she was about to make things even worse for him. He didn’t answer her questions, but she seemed to have expected that.   
She took hold of his left arm and used to pull herself towards his hands. Nico bit back another scream, her action making more blinding pain to shoot through his hands. 

The emposai came close to his bleeding hands and licked some of the blood running down from the wound. Nico shivered and that only cause another wave of pain from his hands to shoot out. 

Maude came back to Nico’s eye level, her pupils were dilated, she had a look in her face as if she was trying to think the answer to something. 

“Oh demigod, you will be a priceless addition to our collection. Even if the mistress doesn’t turn you, and now I hope she doesn’t, with a high quality blood like that, you will be very useful to us.” She said in a cruel voice, her face matching her tone. Nico was beginning to feel like when he was in Tartarus. Helpless, caught, defeated. The emposai was now staring at his neck and smiled, showing her crooked pointy teeth. “I suppose I could use some fuel right now, since you cost me some energy and killed my sister, it seems fair, doesn’t it?” of couse she didn’t wait for Nico’s answer, she just grabbed his hair at the back of his head and painfully pulled it down, forcing Nico’s head backwards and exposing his neck. Nico tried to pull back, but her grip was iron and she just pulled harder. 

He couldn’t see her anymore, he could only see the tree branches, mostly leafless and covered in snow. He then felt a sharp pain on the right side of his neck and realized in horror she was drinking his blood. In old times people, mortals really, would confuse emposai with vampires, because of their feeding habits, though they targeted demigods only. Still, it became a thing. 

As she fed, Nico felt his body becoming more tired, his limbs becoming heavy, useless, he couldn’t keep his arms lifted to spare his hands anymore and the weight of them pulling his hands down was causing more pain, it felt as if his hands would be ripped apart. 

The demigods inside the barrier watched in horror to the scene. Nico’s face showed the toll of the blood loss, his features becoming even paler and his face relaxing, showing he was losing the fight to remain conscious and probably going into shock.

Just then the other demigods reached them. 

Lou Ellen had just reached the barrier and immediately put her hand against it. She saw Nico, his hands and the emposai feeding from his neck and she went white with rage. 

The emposais on the opposite side saw Lou Ellen and at first laughed. Then they say the barrier around the daughter of Hecate’s hands shimmer. They exchanged worried glances.

The other Hecate children came and mimic their counselor, but none had the same effect. Lou Ellen was concentrated. Then she turned to her siblings, Hazel and Calypso. “It’s a mixture of Mist bending and a magic spell, Hazel, focus only on the Mist, think of it as trying to separate two pieces of paper that have been glued together, you have to clear the “glue” so we can pull them apart, Carla, Edmond and Kyle will help you.” She commanded her siblings. “Calypso, Drake, Allana and Zach, you focus on the spell part, find the weak link, it will be well hidden, but as soon as the cleaning of the Mist starts you will be able to find it.”

With that they all set into work. The “cleaners” had their faces strained, using all they had to focus and find the division between their natural barrier and the emposai’s poisoning of it. Lou Ellen had a small piece of it almost cleared already. After a few moments Hazel felt it, could almost see it, very faintly, where their barrier started and where the emposai’s magic started. She used all she had and almost ripped the barriers apart. 

“Maude! We have to go! NOW! They will be able to cross it in a few minutes!” One of the emposai said. 

Maude let go of Nico’s hair and his head fell forward, his eyes almost closed. The emposai had some red around her lips and Hazel saw. It was her brother’s blood. Another monstrous surge of energy went through her, causing a section the size of a door of the yellow to detached itself from the clear barrier, it was still on their way, but it looked like a post it note hanging around the four edges to the barrier underneath it. With a clear image of what it was, the Hecate’s children started to unglue the yellow barrier as well. 

Calypso and the other children of Hecate could now feel and pinpoint the spell they had used and started to counter it. Calypso found the weak link and broke it, a loud snapping sound was heard. But the yellow barrier was still there, they still couldn’t walk past it, they had to finish breaking it. 

“Damn it. It’s okay, we still have time. You!” Maude pointed to a wild centaur “Take the demigod, run as fast as you can, we will disperse and meet up later. You know where to take him.” 

The centaur started moving towards the limp son of Hades. Lou Ellen and Hazel pushed the barrier even harder. Her siblings all were focusing on breaking it, since the spell had been dealt with. But 3 of them were already on their limit, almost falling down. Reyna was lending her strength to them, but she was saving some of it to send it to Nico once the barrier was broken. 

The yellow barrier started to crack. Jason immediately felt his powers reaching the wind outside the barrier. He looked at Reyna “ Reya! Can you help him?” The praetor knew what Jason meant “Yes! I’ll give him all I got!” She answered. She sent all the strength and energy she still had, everything she could. She fell to her knees, but still kept sending all she had. She was about to faint when she felt a hand on her back and felt her energy returning. She looked to her side and saw Will Solace giving her the energy surge. He knew what she was doing and was trying to help. She nodded in gratitude and redirected even more strength to Nico. 

The son of Hades felt his strength returning in an alarming speed, his first thought was “I’m going to go into spontaneous combustion!” Then he realized he knew this strength. Reyna. 

He managed to lift his head and look to the barrier. The yellow exterior had cracks on it, getting bigger. He saw his sister and Lou Ellen, side by side, ferocious expression on their faces. Reyna was behind, on the ground, her face strained. He saw Will kneel beside her and touch her back. Her expression becoming less strained. 

He noticed the centaur coming to him, then started to listen to Piper. “You don’t want to take that demigod, centaur! You want to attack those nasty emposai, always bossing you around like a dumb horse! You know you can’t stand them, you should destroy them, show them they should respect you for all the grace and power you have!” The centaur actually stopped advancing, looking at the emposai with some hurt and anger. 

“No! She is lying, she’s just trying to use you!” Maude started to counter the charmspeak. 

In the confusion with the centaur and emposai, Jason yelled to Nico from the spot he was currently floating.   
“Nico! Get ready to jump!”

Nico gathered his energy, but when he tried to pull his hands free he couldn’t. The dagger was firmly planted against the tree bark and the pain in trying to pull it free almost made him pass out. 

“Stay still! I’ll bring you shadows!” Jason yelled and focused on the sky. 

Nico felt the hair on his arms and back of his neck stand up. A few meters away from him a lighting came down full speed and hit a poor tree, light flooded the clearing, casting shadows behind Nico, including his own against the tree trunk. He called the shadows to him and melted into them. 

“No!” he heard Maude scream. 

He honestly didn’t plan his jump, he just thought about his sister and friends and vanished into the shadows. 

The demigods inside the barrier all stopped what they were doing once Nico vanished, all wondering where he went.

Hazel focused all she had in sensing her brother. Suddenly she shouted “Jason! Thalia’s tree!” 

The son of Jupiter was just starting to go down, the flying and summoning lighting taking a lot out of him, when he heard the daughter of Pluto and turned towards the tree. Amongst the branches, which still had their leaves thanks to the camp weather spell, shadows gathered and Nico fell from them. 

The son of Hades was obviously unconscious. He kept falling. Jason mustered all energy he still had and flew as fast as he could towards Nico. The dark haired demigod hit one of the branches sideways, almost breaking it. As he cleared the branches and started to fall straight to the ground Jason caught him. 

Jason summoned more wind and took them both a bit up, to avoid hitting the ground. He redirected his flight towards Will and the Apollo healers. He looked down at the demigod in his arms. Nico looked almost dead and it hurt Jason to see his friend like that. 

He could see scratched on his face, the blood that had dripped from his hands wounds made his face look even paler. The wound on his neck wasn’t bleeding anymore, but it looked ugly and cause rage to boil inside Jason. He then looked to Nico’s hands. They rested on the demigod’s stomach, still joined together by the dagger, the edge of the blade showing through the back of Nico’s right hand. 

Jason swore that if he ever got hold of those emposai they would pay for this.


	32. Healing this much is hard

Will was running as fast as he could. He saw Jason grabbing Nico just a few feet away from the ground and some relief course through him. With all the injuries the son of Hades already had, he really didn’t need to add a potentially “all bones breaking” fall to them. 

Jason steered his course to land straight in front of Will and all the healers rushing to them. Chiron was also amongst the group, but suddenly Percy called the old centaur, Chiron stopped mid gallop and turned back to the son of Poseidon. Percy seemed to talk very fast, pointing to the cabins, his face showing urgency. Chiron looked to hesitated for just a few seconds, then turned his body so that Jackson could climb and dashed towards the cabins. 

Clarisse and Frank were leading a force of demigods through the whole on the barrier that Lou Ellen had managed to expand enough for people to go through. The demigods had quickly picked up arms and armors, some still running from the armory and joining the group going to the hunt of the monsters. Leo and Calypso going as well. 

Hazel, Lou Ellen and all the Hecate cabin were not going, too tired to do much. Piper had considered going, but thought she might be needed if the shadows episode from the infirmary repeated itself. Annabeth stayed behind as well, not sure if she would be able to help in any way, but unwilling to leave Nico right now.

Reyna, though moving slower than normal, was walking as fast as possible towards Jason as well, Hazel and Lou Ellen as well. The three girls looked on the verge of exhaustion, each having used their powers almost to the limit. 

Jason landed and barely set Nico down when Solace immediately kneeled down and placed his hands on Nico’s chest and forehead. The son of Hades was pale, cold, unresponsive and his breathing left no doubt that he was in severe pain and had at least one broken rib.

Will once again let his powers flow through Nico and tried to get information on how the son of Hades was. He was horrified with each discovery he made. 

Looking around he saw Chiron wasn’t anywhere. He knew he was going to use all he had and would probably have to ask Kayla to do the same. With the two strongest healers out, he would have to rely on Chiron to coordinate Nico’s treatment with his younger and less experienced siblings. Some of them were very capable and showed promise, but he was worried their powers were still too immature to deal with such an overwhelming case. 

“Annabeth!” He called the daughter of Athena, who came forward immediately. “Chiron isn’t here, I need to heal as much of his wounds as possible, that will probably cause me to pass out, so I need you to listen to all the injuries I’ll list and have Chiron informed of them, so he can take it over while I’m out, all right?” Without waiting for the answer he turned toward his sister “Kayla, I’m so sorry to ask this of you, but I’ll…”

“Save it, Will.” The girls interrupted “I’m on it. I’ll work around your healing so we don’t both use our powers on the same thing.” She said with determination. 

Will nodded. “Annabeth, remember this.” He started in a calm and medical tone “Significant concussion to the back of the skull, no fractures; right side neck laceration, apparently not too serious; severely bruised back with inflammation already setting between his vertebrae; his 5th and 6th left side ribs are broken; severe and deep bruising on his abdomen, reaching his internal organs, stomach and liver will have to be closely monitored; a thin but deep laceration on his right thigh, going right through all the muscles; right ulna and radius completely broken, both hands pierced and nerves seriously damaged; several bruises and cuts, some will need stitching and all need to be disinfected.” Will took a breath. It wasn’t fair! Damn all those monsters!

Jason, Hazel, Reyna, Piper, Lou Ellen and Annabeth just listened in shock to the list of injuries. Hazel had tears running down her cheek. Lou Ellen, a bit awkwardly, started to run her hand on the daughter of Pluto’s back, trying to calm her. Jason’s and Reyna’s face were mask of anger. Annabeth listened in perfect stillness, the only thing betraying her cool surface were her eyes, showing anger, sadness and worry at the same time. 

“Shadows and darkness once again active and just under his skin, suggesting he used his powers to the limit, this may be a bigger threat than the physical injuries.” Will cursed those shadows once again. Why hadn’t they attacked the emposai? Nico was in mortal danger, why hadn’t they reacted and attacked to protect their master? Will had a feeling Nico’s control over them had been enough to prevent that. Had he lost control in the state he was, the shadows would most likely consume him whole. Well, what use were them, then? Will thought angrily. Now they were there, just below Nico’s skin, just like when he came to the infirmary after the war. Will could feel them, it was almost as if he could tune into them by now. He felt them moving, it made him think they were trying to assess the situation. They were ready to attack, Nico probably had held them back, but now he was unconscious and they were on their own, calling the shots. Will cursed them again. 

“Kayla, we will have to be very careful. His powers are in alert, even more now, it might think our healing is actually an attack and react violently to us.” As he said that he noticed some demigods that had run to the fallen son of Hades back away, in fear and wariness. Will wanted to punch them. “All of you unnecessary here, feel free to run away! You’re in the way anyway!” He shouted, anger plain in his voice. The demigods looked at each other. Most decided they should indeed leave the healers to it and started to walk away. 

Piper kneeled by Nico’s head “I’ll talk to him, Will, it might help.” Will just nodded, grateful. The daughter of Aphrodite started taking to Nico, much like the night at the infirmary.  
“Austin” Will spoke softly, so to not get in the way of Piper’s voice. “Take all the other healers away from here, to the other side of camp, as fast as you can”

“What? No, we will help him!” Austin and the other healers started to say. 

“Listened.” Will said with authority “If these shadows do attack and knock us out again, you will be the only healers available to help him, and I need you to stay awake. So go, now!”

With that the other healers turned and started running to the side of camp, to avoid any possible shadow attack and pick up from wherever Will left the healing. 

“Ready?” Will asked Kayla. The girl simply nodded, already positioned across from Will, her hands on Nico’s chest and stomach. They wouldn’t move the dagger just yet. They had to focus first on the head, back and abdomen injuries, those were the main targets for this initial healing. 

Both healers started chanting and channeling their healing powers, each focusing on an area. Will took the head and the right side of Nico’s back and abdomen. Kayla took the left side, the broken ribs, most of the spinal injury and the left portion of the abdomen, reaching just the right wrist as well, so that Will could focus on the head.  
Nico started to stir, the healing causing pain to his body, trying to fix it. “Piper, try to keep him asleep” Will muttered with some urgency. 

Piper poured more charmspeak into her voice, calmly telling Nico to be still and to sleep. The son of Hades became still again. 

They had been at it for what felt like half an hour, though it had been less than five minutes. Annabeth saw Chiron returning with Percy still on his back. The son of Poseidon was holding two buckets, as was Chiron. 

When he dismounted he rushed to Nico. “I got the water from the fountain in my room. It’s far from the healing powers of the Apollo healers, but it might help.” Annabeth would have commented on his brilliant idea if the situation allowed it. 

Percy set the buckets by Nico’s feet and waited for Solace’s permission. Will stopped his chanting for a brief moment “Focus on the wound on his leg, but don’t go near his hands just yet.” And started singing his hymn once again. 

The son of Poseidon commanded the water to Nico’s right leg, where it a cut the size of a small blade could be seen. Percy hadn’t practice much of his healing abilities on anyone, still he hoped it would be enough to help Nico and give the healers some room to breathe and focus on the big wounds. His healing was slow, slower than on himself. He wondered if Nico’s Underworld nature was making it more difficult. Slowly the wound stared to close. 

In the meanwhile Kayla’s healing was working in a fast pace, but the daughter of Apollo was close to fainting. She stoped for a brief moment, drank nectar from a bottle straped to her side and began the healing again. Will did the same 2 minutes after her. 

They were almost done all they could for Nico’s major injuries. They would still need some serious healing, but they were not so life threatening right now. 

As soon as Kayla was done with her side she started to fall backwards, her eyes closing. Jason caught her before she hit the ground, he picked her up and carefully placed her to the side, in case they needed to move Nico she wouldn’t be in the way. Her face was pale, but she was breathing fine. Jason turned back to Nico and Will, who was still working on his healing. 

The son of Apollo healed the concussion completely, which meant the next step was going to be more difficult. Extracting the dagger without Nico waking up, otherwise the pain would be too much. He considered trying to numb Nico’s hand, but he would need to go to the infirmary, prepare a sedative, apply and wait for it to work, and each minute that passed Nico’s hands were in worse shape and harder to heal. 

“Piper, this is going to be hard, it will hurt, a lot. Do all you can to keep him still, please. Jackson, I’ll try to remove the dagger slowly, bit by bit so we can repair the damage as we take the blade out. If I pass out, keep doing that, understood? The longer that blade stays there, the harder it will be to heal his hands.” Will said and both demigods just agreed.  
Nico’s hand wound could be a lot worse, Will thought. The Underworld power in the metal would have been much more destructive if it had been any other demigod, maybe safe for Hazel. There was a dark mist around the wound, as if either the blade was causing damage to another plain of Nico’s existence or Nico’s shadows was being sucked out by the blade and dissipating around it. Either way, Will wanted that weapon out of Nico’s hands. 

He started to slowly pull the blade out. Nico stirred again. Piper talked louder and straight into Nico’s ear. Will could feel Percy’s healing power helping the repair of the damaged tissue. He looked up from the wound to the son of Poseidon. The dark haired demigod looked on the verge of passing out. Healing others didn’t come to Percy as naturally as it did to Will. The effort he had to put into it was bigger than any of his fighting powers demanded. Healing himself was natural, second nature. Healing Nico was taking a great toll from him, but still Percy persisted. It was all he could do to help, so he wasn’t going to fail. 

They were almost done with Nico’s right hand, Will’s vision was starting to blur. He took another sip of nectar and felt his body heating up. 

“Solace, you can’t have anymore, you’ll burn if you do.” Chiron warned. Will just nodded and took advantage of the small surge of energy the godly drink gave him. 

Piper was also feeling the toll of the use of her powers. She had used her charmspeak to the maximum to reach the centaur that was going to take Nico and keep him confused while the emposai tried to reverse her charmspeaking. Her power faltered for a second, unfortunately Will had just pulled Nico’s left hand a bit from the blade and the son of Hades opened his eyes in complete surprise and pain. With no idea what was going on, his mind unable to process anything but the pain in his hand, Nico let out a scream of pain.  
“Nico! Please calm down, we’re helping you, you’ll be alright, you’re safe” Piper tried to calm him. 

Hazel came to Piper’s side and tried to talk to her brother “Nico, listen to me, it’s Hazel. You’re safe now, please let them heal you.”

But Nico’s mind wasn’t keeping up with the information. Drained and put through all the pain and fear it had felt, his mind did the one thing that sounded reasonable at the moment. Let the shadows take charge and protect him from any more harm. 

With no warning this time, the shadows and darkness exploded from Nico. 

Lou Ellen had just the time and energy to put up a barrier around Nico and those closest to him, unable to get to them in time. Will, Hazel, Piper, Jason and Percy were inside with Nico. 

Her barrier was able to take the initial force of the wave, shattering right after the first impact. Fortuneatly it was enough to take the worst of it. What escaped her barrier brought the remaining demigods to their knees, but didn’t knock them out. 

Lou Ellen was barely conscious, Nico’s attack had drained her. “How did you do that?” Chiron asked while holding the daughter of Hecate’s back so she would fall. “We trained. We trained and I had the chance to try my magic against his. This was a small attack, maybe the last of his strength, otherwise my barrier wouldn’t have hold any of it.” She responded. 

Annabeth and Reyna were already by the unconscious demigods side. Nico’s body shivered, turned into shadows and then solidified again. 

“Hedge! We need coach Hedge!” Reyna said. Chiron nodded. The centaur help Lou Ellen lay down and stared to run to get the satyr. He met the other healers and some demigods who had joined them in case they could help in any way and sent them to the unconscious demigods.


	33. The first time

The demigods hit by the wave were taken to another of Nico’s memory. This one was different though. The edges were blurry, as if the details were uncertain. 

They were in a street of what seemed to be a very old town. Piper recognized Venice from one of her father’s world premiers, he had sent pictures to her, who had refused to go and be swarmed by papparazis again. 

They saw an extremely beautiful woman, with raven black hair, a kind and caring face, taking two small children by the hand, walking through the street with no rush, laughing about something the girl had said. Percy knew that woman. He had seen her death. 

Maria di Angelo walked with such poise and independence at the same time, all of her so regal and yet beautiful that Percy understood how someone as isolated as Hades had fallen for such a mortal. 

Bianca di Angelo was holding her mother’s left hand, a young and small Nico, maybe 5 or 6 years old, was holding his mother’s right hand. They looked so happy. Hazel felt an enormous sadness for her brother, who had lost all of that. Not only his mother and sister, but his innocence and joy. 

Will and Jason felt their hearts being squeezes in their chest. So this was what Nico was like? Before he lost everything, he had been cheerful, happy and didn’t mind physical contact. 

As they got closer the demigods could hear them talking. They knew they were speaking Italian, but they could understand it. There were some people on the narrow street, walking their own way. 

The small family looked happy, the children taking fast and cheerfully, Maria listening with attention and a smile on her face. 

Suddenly, they heard a commotion. Two men came running desperately through the streets, they passed quickly by the three, the demigods noticed they were holding hands. Men in uniforms were running after them and, from a side street to the left, more men came and cut the two men escape. They turned violently to the right and entered a side street. 

Maria hurriedly pulled her children against a wall and knelt in front of them, embracing both and trying to shield them from what was happeing. The other people in the street either did the same and placed themselves out of the street against the house’s walls, or went inside their homes. 

The men in uniform quickly entered the side street. Nico heard one saying in a mocking voice “Stupid idiots, it’s a dead end street.” Next he heard what sounded like many punches and kicks, two voices screaming. He grabbed hold of his mother’s skirt, terrified. Maria held him even closer and tighter. After a few minutes the men in uniform came out of the alley, dragging one of the men who had been running. 

“What about the other one?”the mocking one asked. “He’ll need to go to the cemetery” another answered with a malicious smile on his face. 

Maria had risked a glance at the uniformed men, the policemen of the city, and her eyes widened in shock. 

She turned quickly to her children, letting go of them and desperately going through the items on her bag. “Listen to me! The two of you. If you see anything, anything at all, strange or different in any of those men, you will say nothing, you will not stare at them, you will look to the ground and keep you eyes to the ground, you understand me?” She said in a commanding voice, taking a small vile from her purse, opening it and splashing it on her hand and rubbing her hand on her children’s face, neck, exposed arms. It was her perfume. Nico liked it on his mother, but she was using too much on him and Bianca, it made his head spin. “Mom, it’s too much, and it’s girls smell” Nico complained. “I know, tesoro, but please let me do this.” She use some more of it on them, then use the rest on her. 

Just as she placed the vial back on her purse two of the policemen who had been out of the alley and paying too much attention to the three started to walk toward them.   
“Madam, it’s alright now, there’s nothing to fear.” One of them said to Maria, but he was trying to see pass her, trying to see her children. Maria immediately got to her feet, straightening her back and using a mask of such coldness one would think she feared nothing. 

“You scared my children, you are suppose to protect us, not scare them.” She spoke in a tone of total control, keeping herself steadfast between the men and her son and daughter. Nico was able to see one of the man as he tried to take a look at him and Bianca and saw a dog’s head instead of a man’s head. He quickly hid behind his mother again, not believing his eyes. 

The action seemed to interest the men even more. “Don’t worry little girl, little boy. They were bad men, they deserved what they got. You can come out now, we won’t hurt you.” They were trying to get closer, Maria noticed their nostrils moving, as if trying to sniff something. 

She stepped forward, detaching herself from her children. Bianca immediately embraced Nico and Nico did the same to his sister. Maria di Angelo advanced on the men, her expression so determined, cold and enraged the men back up from her. 

“You did your job, then, keep away from my children.” She said in such a tone that left no room for arguing. “Captain” She called the higher officer. The two men went rigid. “Thank you for your services in keeping us safe.” She said in a tone Nico already knew she didn’t mean it “But now you’re men are harassing me and my children. Please restrain them.” She made an innocent face. The captain looked at the two siblings holding each other and turned an angry face to his subordinates. “You two are a disgrace to this service! I’ll have the both of you on kitchen duties for two months for this!”

The two men opened their mouths to protest “Three months! Four if you dare try to say something!” the captain said. “Back to the station! Go carry the one still breathing!” he commanded. The men spared Maria a nasty look, but went as ordered. 

“Thank you very much captain.” Maria said in the same tone, turning to return to her children. 

The demigods watching the memory had all the same thought. If there was something to be said about Maria di Angelo was that she had an enormous amount of courage. 

 

The memory shifted, the family was on the same street, again holding hands, but the street was empty, the cold weather probably being the reason for it.

Bianca now seemed peeved about something Nico said. 

“You didn’t need to say it, fratello!” Bianca leaned forward and said to Nico.

“But you were so happy about it, why not sorella?” Nico asked in complete surprise.

Maria di Angelo had a kind smile on her lips. “It’s alright, Bianca, I’m happy to know these things. Even if I think you’re a bit too young to like someone already.” She said in a gentle tone, aware that it was all kids silly crushes. 

“Well, Nico has someone too!” Bianca said. 

Nico jumped as if caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Maria laughed lightly. “Well, mio figlio, who is it that you like, then?” She asked in a light tone. 

Nico looked at Bianca with a defying expression and turned to their mother, speaking like it was nothing but alright. 

“Well, me and Adriano decided we liked each other so…” He started to say and was cut short by something hitting him across his face. His left cheek was hot and stinging. It took him a moment to realize that what had caused that pain had been his mother’s hand. 

Bianca was standing frozen, her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide. 

Nico was still, no reaction came to him. He didn’t cry. He didn’t know what to do. 

Maria grabbed his shoulders, kneeled down and looked desperately into her son’s eyes. “Don’t ever say that again, do you understand me, Nico? Don’t ever say that out loud again, to no one! Stop being friends with Adriano, that’s an order, stay away from him, do you understand?” Maria’s voice wasn’t angry, it was scared, desperate. “No one can know about this, are we clear?” She looked to Bianca as well, who just nodded. 

Nico still hadn’t moved. He was staring at his mother’s face, no reaction showing in his, just the shocked expression still there. “Nico, I need to know, I need you to tell me you will obey me and hide this, from everyone! Never tell anyone, never let anyone know, do you understand? Do you promise me?” She was pleading. 

Nico still didn’t understand what he did wrong, but his mother was so scared, he nodded “Yes, mamma” he said in a small voice. 

The sadness and pain was visible in Maria di Angelo’s face, but she seemed relieved by her son’s promise. She kissed his other cheek and got up, taking her children’s hand again and they began walking once more. 

In Nico’s mind the truth was starting to settle. He realized his mother had been distraught at the fact he and Adriano liked each other. Was it because they were both boys? He saw only boys and girls together, maybe that was the right way and he had done it wrong by liking another boy. He felt his insides heat up with shame. The way his mother reacted told him he had done something very bad. She told him not to ever speak of it again, she was scared he would and had even slapped him for it. For the first time in his life Nico realized he was different, wrong, not normal and that being that way, liking boys instead of girls, would made him a freak to others who found out. It was the first time Nico felt the rejection for being the way he was. It hurt. More than his mother’s slap to his face. He felt so much shame and sadness. 

Bianca and Maria would glance sideways to Nico. Bianca looked worried. Maria looked extremely sad. 

Nico would only look at the ground. At some point he remembered the two men holding hands and running, the police after them. They were criminals, and now Nico thought he might knew their crime. It made him feel even worse about himself. He was so unnatural that the police would come after him too if they knew what he was. 

Even though the memory of the police chasing those two men faded from Nico’s memory, the certainty that he was wrong stayed with him, slowly poisoning him from the inside.


	34. A dark memory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time since I updated, sorry. Time seems hard to come by lately...

The memory blurred, the bright colors disappeared and dark gray and blue took place, slowly coming into focus. Percy recognized New York as soon as it came into focus. The tall buildings, the everlasting traffic, made worse by the light rain falling at the moment. 

The others soon realized where they were or at least had an idea. 

On the sidewalk, dodging the other walkers, Nico moved in a fast pace, looking backwards every now and then, as if checking for something.  
He was older than the previous memory, maybe 12 or 13. Percy guessed it was sometime after the battle of the labyrinth. Nico already had his dark sword by his side and seemed to be in a more alert state, typical of demigods who had seen battle already. 

The son of Hades kept walking fast. They noticed a few meters behind NIco, and shoving other people out of her way, was a tall and buff woman, her face fierce and angry, a cut on her left cheek still bleeding and she seemed to be limping from her right leg. 

Nico looked back once more and his gaze met the woman’s. Her image shifted and they saw her scaly skin and yellow menacing eyes, full of malice and locked in the young demigod in front of her. Nico bolted. He ran as fast as he could, making good use of his small and thin frame to pass between other people’s legs so quickly it was hard to keep up with him, even if they were mere spectators of the memory. The dracaena too started to run as fast as it could, but the large number of people in her way slowed her down, even with all the shoving and bumping she did to get them out of her way. For a moment her image again changed and they saw her right side snake body had a deep gash in it, black smoke coming out of it. Nico must have been responsible for that. 

The chase continued for a few minutes. Nico looked to be getting tired, who knew the last time the kid had eaten or slept at all. The monster was gaining ground, getting closer to the demigod. Nico glanced back on last time, saw that she was bound to reach him soon. He saw a dark alley to his right and threw himself in it.  
The dracaena reached the alley just as Nico jumped into the shadows at the end of it and disappeared, hearing her frustrated and angry shriek. 

Nico had no idea where he was. He had fallen out of the shadows in what appeared to be another alley. He was too tired. Lying down on his back exactly where he had fallen he couldn’t bother to move. His stomach growled, remembering him once more it needed and demanded food. Nico wasn’t sure the last time he ate, but it must’ve been a day or two by now. The rain falling on his face made the situation all the more depressing. He was soaked and cold, tired and hungry, and to be honest, lost. Not that he had any place to go right now or any time soon. He wasn’t expected or waited by anyone anywhere, so there was no rush to get moving again so soon. At least until the next monster came along and forced him to move once more. 

Life in the streets of New York were harder than Nico had thought. He had this idea that since it was such a big and populated city the monsters would have a hard time tracking him, but every few days he had to either fight or run for his life because of a monster. He thought about Camp Half-Blood every now and then. The demigods safe inside the barrier, with at least 3 meals a day, cabins and warm beds to sleep in, training to get them ready for life outside the safety of camp, friends, family and acceptance. All the things he would never have, all the things, he, as a demigod should be entitled to, but as a son of Hades was denied. Not even a cabin of his father was welcomed in the camp, much less a child of his. Heck, every time he woke up he wasn’t sure he would have the chance to wake up a next time, maybe that day would be the day a monster had a better day than Nico and would go asleep with a belly full of son of Hades. 

In the middle of his thoughts and too tired he didn’t even hear the shuffling and steps on water until a face showed above him. Nico yelled and tried to sit up and get away, but his hands slipped on the wet ground and he fell back down.  
“Don’t fret so much child! I know I don’t look like a fairy godmother, but I’m not that scary!” A raspy voice said. 

Nico was breathing so fast his chest hurt. Stupid of him to let his guard so down what seemed to be a simple human had been able to sneak up on him.  
“Well, are you hurt?” The figure asked. Nico could barely make out the glint of eyes and the tip of a nose under the heavy fabrics the figure wore around it’s head. It sounded like an older woman’s voice, but he wasn’t sure, with all the rain noise. 

“No, I’m not hurt. Sorry to disturb you, I’ll be on my way soon.” He managed to say. He learned some homeless people could be very territorial and didn’t want any trouble. He slowly got up and sat, feeling lightheaded. He needed to eat soon. Maybe he could find some food on the back door of a pizza joint. They would sometime place the leftovers in boxes and leave them on the back of the shop.  
The figure was still, it seemed to be looking at Nico, analyzing him. Nico hated it. The person could see him, but he could barely see who was under the hood, he felt at a disadvantage and wanted to leave as soon as possible. He made an effort to get up, but his legs wouldn’t obey yet. The figure got up from it’s crouching position and vanished inside a tent made of plastic bags and rags. It came back with a brown paper wrap. 

“You look just about ready to faint, eat this.” The figure commanded.  
Nico was about to protest, but his stomach growled again and he felt the pain of hunger in him. He hesitantly took to wrap and opened it. It was half of a hot dog. Nico wolfed the thing in less than a minute. 

“Thank you. I’ll leave as soon as I can, promise.” He told the person standing in front of him. 

The figure seem to hesitate, then pulled the hood down, revealing and old woman with gray hair and wrinkled face. “How old are you, boy?”  
“Not that’s any of your business, but I’m 16.” Nico lied. 

The woman looked at him with an expression that made clear she didn’t believe him. “Uhum, right. You’re a little too young to be on your own this late and in an alley, aren’t you? Shouldn’t you go back home? I’m sure your parents must be so worried about you.”

Nico shrunk into himself when she mentioned home and parents. Things he once had and never again would. “I’m fine and on my own.” He replied with some anger.  
The woman still looked at him with a quizzical expression, but didn’t insist. “Well, it’s dark, late, raining and getting cold. I sense you don’t exactly have the energy to go too far today, so, just this time, I’ll offer you a corner in my tent, for you to sleep somewhere dry and warm tonight.”

Nico was stunned. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had so willingly offered to help him. Thinking that the last time he slept on a bed and in a warm place had been on his last night in camp, months ago, he felt so tempted to accept. But his instincts kept telling him to just get up and get moving. His body on the other hand was almost begging him to just lied back down and sleep, out in the rain and cold or in the tent and warm, it didn’t matter, all it wanted was to sleep. He opened his mouth to refuse but the woman had placed strong hand on his arms and pulled him to his feet. “Stop looking for excuses to say no, child. You can barely stand, how far do you really think you’ll go? And if you stay out here and get pnemounia, how far do you think you will go then?” 

She let go of Nico’s arms and he almost fell down again. She caught him by the arms once more and put one arm around his chest, him still being too small for her to reach his waist without bending down. The demigods watching the scene noticed Nico didn’t protest or tried to wiggle out of her touch. He didn’t seem to mind it actually.  
As soon as they entered her tent Nico felt warmth invading his cold body. There was enough room for the woman and Nico to lie down, it was a tight fit, but it was warm and had plenty of covers to keep the floor dry and comfortable. “You can sleep over there” She pointed to the further corner, where a few blankets were piled on. Nico didn’t protest anymore. He just crawled to the spot, fell in the blankets and was out. 

He woke up feeling so rested he couldn’t believe it. It took him a few moments to remember what had happened. He started to get up and noticed he was wearing only his underwear. He immediately wrapped a blanket around himself, but the 5 demigods watching had a chance to see how thin Nico already was at that age, his hipbones and ribs could be seen, not as much as when he got out of Tartarus, but still, it was visible. 

The woman poked her head inside the tent and Nico again yelled. “Oh, for good sakes child, stop doing that every time you see me, that’s harsh on the self esteem.” She said with some humor in her voice. She stretched her arm and offer Nico a paper cup with a lid on it. “It’s soup day at the shelter, manage to get you a portion.” She then reached inside her coat pocket and gave him a bread as well.  
Nico was torn between eating and demanding for his clothes. Hunger won. He ate so fast he almost burn his mouth with the soup.  
“Slow down, you’ll get sick if you eat that fast!” She told him. He tried to eat slower, barely managing to. 

Before he could ask anything the woman again disappeared and returned in less than a minute. “Your clothes are finally dry. It rained yesterday the whole day, so only today they got dry.” She gave him his t-shirt, jacket and pants.  
“How long was I out?” Nico asked

“Well, the night you got here and two more days. Almost 3 days.” She said. “I tried to wake you on the second day, but you didn’t even flinch, just kept sleeping like you were dead. I almost took you to the shelter so they would call an ambulance. But I didn’t think you would appreciate that so decided to wait 2 more days before doing that.”  
“Thank you. For letting me sleep here, for the food and for not taking me to the shelter. I’ll get dressed and be out of your way.” Nico said.  
“Boy.” She called and he looked at her. Now, with some daylight, he could see she had gray eyes that were intelligent but kind, she looked like she might have been beautiful once, but the time living in the streets worn off that beauty and now she was an image of endurance. “I won’t ask you why you are in this situation, but do you have someplace to go? Someplace to live?”

Nico thought about telling yes, he had, he would go back to it now. But instead he answered “No.”

She looked at him with sympathy and sadness. “It is really heartbreaking to see someone so young alone in this world. I don’t know what happened to you and won’t ask you of it, but I would like you to spend a few more days here, to rest, to get some food and maybe have some time to think about what you’ll do next.”  
“Why?” Nico demanded.

“Maybe because you remember me of my son. I would want someone to look after him. I bet your mother would do too.” The old woman answered.  
“You have a son?” He asked before he could stop himself  
“Had.” She said in a small voice. 

There was a moment of silence. “I’m very grateful for the offer, ma’am, but I can’t stay. I have to keep moving.” Nico said.  
She gave him a kind smile. “I figured, but you could still rest for another day or two. Who knows when you’ll find another warm place to sleep?”  
Nico felt so tempted to stay, sleep another night or two on those warm blankets. “You don’t even know my name.” He said, noticing the absurd of the situation.  
“Neither you know mine. I’m Delia, by the way.” She offered. 

The son of Hades hesitated. He already had a hard time trusting people. But this woman had offered him shelter and food without knowning him, the least he could do was give her his name. “Nico.”  
Delia smiled again. “So, feel free to stay as long as you want, Nico. I know you feel the need to go right now, but give yourself the chance to rest a little. I’m guessing whatever it is your running from, you have been at it for a while now. You found a safe place to rest, use it.”

Truth be told, after eating the soup Nico was feeling tired already, his eyes getting sleepy. “Maybe, just another night…” He said as he started to fall backwards and barely touched the blankets he was already sleeping again. 

One night turned into a week, as Nico rested, went out for food for him and Delia, allowed the old woman to sew the holes in his pants and shirt. She even went to a shelter and got him some clothes. A bit too big for him, but in better state than his current ones and it would help to build layers for the cold weather on its way.  
They wouldn’t talk much, but the company was enough. Having someone around him that didn’t flinch or avoided him, looked at him as if he was a menace or came from the darkest corner of the Underworld was nice, was something Nico missed. Maybe that’s why, despite his instincts and his mind urging him to start running again, he lingered instead of moving on as he said he would. 

On one afternoon the weather turned bad again, dark clouds were gathering and a storm was coming. “Stay here Delia, I’ll run to the shelter and get us some food.” Nico offered.  
“Are you sure? There’s going to be a lot of people there, they might ask you questions” She said.  
“Don’t worry, I can handle it.” He assured her. 

“Alright, but be careful, don’t slip or anything of the sort. I’m the only one of us allowed to break a hip.” She said with humour. 

Nico gave her a smile and left for the shelter.  
He came back almost an hour later, the line had been long and the workers from the shelter had indeed tried to question him, but he managed to convince them to let him go with the two servings of soup and bread after a while. 

He walked into the alley feeling good, despite the cold rain falling and soaking him. He would just have to wrap himself in the blankets again and today he and Delia would sleep with full bellies. 

“I’m back Delia, sorry it took me so long to…” He noticed the tent was looking weird, askew and some rags flapping on the wind of the storm.  
“Delia?” He called  
He walked forward, his heart beating hard on his chest. Suddenly he felt it, that feeling of death coming, unavoidable, precise and absolute, no negotiation could be made, no bargain stroke with it. 

The demigods watching the memory felt it through Nico. It was a weird sensation, to those who weren’t related to the Underworld, to feel it for the first time. It was like feeling at the same time a warm flame gradually fading into ember, a thread finally coming loose after resisting for a long time and something else that could not be explained. 

“No” Was all Nico could say. He dropped the soups, ran forward and saw Delia with her back against the wall, a huge red stain could be seen on her shirt thanks to the street light that barely reached them. 

“Delia! I’ll get help! I’ll call an ambulance, you just hang on!” Nico said, kneeled down in front of the old woman, using his hands to make pressure on her wound, which now he could feel. A long gash on her abdomen. “HELP!” Nico yelled. He had to find someone, he needed help. He made a motion to get up, but felt Delia’s hand, no longer strong, on his wrist. 

“I don’t think anyone can help me, child. And you need to run.” She said in a tired voice.  
“No, they can, you’ll be alright, I can get help…”  
“Nico.” He stopped talking. “It’s alright. My time has come. But you must run. She might come back.” Delia’s voice was low now, difficult to hear. The feeling of death stronger and Nico knew she was beyond saving.  
“What?” He asked

“This, big woman, she was yelling something about smelling him here, that she could smell him on my hands, said she wanted the half blood. I think she was crazy, when I said I didn’t know what she wanted she took a huge blade and attacked me. I don’t want her to find you here if she comes back. Run, Nico!”  
Nico was crying now. It was the dracaena, he was sure. It had recognizes his scent and came looking for him. Delia was dying because of him, because she had been near him, touched his arms and the monster smelled it. 

“I’m sorry Delia, I’m so sorry, this is my fault, I’m so sorry.” Nico kept saying.

“No, it’s not.” Her words came as a whisper and she had a hard time saying them. “Will finally see my son again” she said with a weak smile, then her eyes unfocused and the last breath left her. Nico felt her soul leaving her body. 

As Nico cried he felt Death by his side. When he opened his eyes and looked to his left there it stood. Tall, indifferent to the life now gone, just watching the scene. A small boy crying over the body of a dead old woman, the first person in a long time to show him any sympathy or compassion. 

“It is not an easy life, that of a demigod, is it, son of Hades?” Thanatos asked in a flat tone.

Nico didn’t bother answering. If there was a god anywhere who knew how hard a demigod’s life must be, it would be Thanatos, always coming to collect their souls.  
“She shouldn’t have died, if I hadn’t stayed, if I hadn’t let her help me, she would have lived” Nico barely whispered through his sobs. 

Thanatos, who had been staring at the rain clouds, turned his head back down and stared at Nico “Oh, how would you know that?” The demigod lifted his head and stared at Death. “The monster was looking for me, if I hadn’t linger here Delia would have been left in peace.” 

“That is true, but doesn’t mean her time wouldn’t come in a different way. If it was her time to die, it could not be changed, Prince.” Nico hated that title, his father barely recognized him as a son, much less an heir, but was so upset he didn’t even care. “I could have cause her death to be sooner and more painful than it should’ve been, Thanatos.  
She didn’t have to die like this, this violent death by the blade of a monster. I brought that monster to her.” The young teen said. “It tracked me, followed my scent, smelled it on Delia and killed her because she didn’t give me up.” Nico’s body was shaking, tears wouldn’t stop falling from his eyes, he was looking at Delia’s face “If she had never met me, she could have had a peaceful passing, not full of pain and fear. I brought that to her. All she did was help me, and all I did was bring death to her.” He took a shaky breath “Will that always be what I do? Everyone that cared about me and that I cared about, everyone I loved or came to like, everyone I come close to or that touch me, will I always bring them their deaths?” Nico looked Thanatos in the eyes, no fear whatsoever in his face as he gazed into Death himself. 

Thanatos, for the briefest of moments, seemed to softened his features, almost a look of pity in his eyes. “You are the son of the Lord of the Underworld, your life will always have death in it. It might not be fair, but life is not fair. Death is. Death holds no prejudice, no special treatment, no regards for ones parents, linage, history or achievements, but it also holds no pity, nor compassion or mercy. Death just is. Like the few other sons and daughters of Hades to come before you, my presence in your short life is already more than most demigods would have. Like them also you will have to live on the edge of both worlds, not accepted by neither. And like them also, your life will most likely be short and end in pain. All of them I came to collect the soul myself. Your sister’s too. It is a duty I have taken upon myself, to escort your father’s children to him once they passed. All of them had their fill of death in their lives.”

Nico felt the weight of the God of Death’s words. All of his brothers and sisters had had a life in the shadows, shunned by the demigod world and unable to fit in the mortal world as well. All of them had come to a violent end in their short lives. He again felt deep in his bones how alone he was. He could die any moment and no one would know or care, no funeral would be held for him, no words spoken about him, no one would mourn the last son of Hades. He looked at Delia’s face once again. Everyone he came close to died. Everyone he touched or allowed to touch him died. 

He got up on and started to walk toward the street. 

“Where are you going child?” Thanatos asked. 

“I’m going to let the shelter’s people know about Delia. She will have a funeral, she will be remembered by them and me, even if it is my fault she is dead, she will not be left here, alone and forgotten.” Like I would be if it had been me who was dead, he thought. 

“Child.” Thanatos called. Nico turned around. He could barely see Thanatos in the darkness and rain, but the God’s voice reached him, unemotional and indifferent, like Death itself should be. “If you hadn’t been here, she might’ve died later, some other day, from another cause. But she would have died alone, with no one to care or be by her side. Which is worse?”

With those words the God vanished, leaving Nico with the feeling that he wouldn’t be too far for too long.


	35. Damn the Fates

Reyna had seen a lot of injuries. The Roman training was harder and more demanding than the Greek, demigods got hurt, sometimes very badly. Also having experiencing so many battles she had seen demigods get hurt and killed, but it was still hard to deal with it. 

The other Apollo campers came and took over the situation, she was unable to help. She was exhausted, she had no more energy to share. All she could do was watch.  
The unconscious demigods were triaged and since they were not hurt, just knocked out, the two youngest healers were made responsible for them. The others, though not as skillful as Will or Kayla, acted quickly and efficiently. 

The non-healing demigods still at camp helped carry the seven unconscious demigods inside and placed them in beds inside the infirmary.  
The team responsible for Nico was moving fast and exchanging information, Reyna watched from a safe distance so to not be on the way. Annabeth was passing on the injuries listed by Will, the healers would have to evaluate how much healing had been done already and go from there. 

Reyna heard a small commotion by the entrance of the infirmary. The campers from Hecate Cabin were being brought in, most were walking on their own, some being supported by other demigods, all looking in need of urgent rest. 

When she turned back to Nico’s bed she saw his shirt had been cut away and the area around the cut on his right thigh was being cut so allow them to assess the damage. The daughter of Bellona could see the son of Hade’s torso from her spot. She was shocked to see the huge black, red and purple bruise just below Nico’s ribcage. Right at the center, where the emposai hoof connected was darker. On his left side she could see another bruise, most likely from hitting the tree branches when he entered camp, Nico still had a pale complexion, though not as pale as when she met him, making his bruises and small cuts on his arms stand out even more. 

Reyna felt such sorrow for her friend. His face still showed a pained expression, his breathing rapid. Since her journey with Nico and coach Hedge she had known the son of Hades had had an incredibly hard life, feeling alone, rejected, unaccepted, hating himself for what he was. He had finally began to get better, giving people a chance, giving himself a chance to be happy and have friends; and now he was lying in the infirmary once more, hurt because he risked his life, again, for other demigods. 

She sighed, feeling her shoulders drop. She had always known the life of a demigod would never be fair, but Nico seemed to be the most wrongly done demigod she had ever known. It was beyond unfair. She cursed the Fates for all that her friend had been through. 

The healers seemed to be calmer now. Annabeth walked towards Reyna. 

“They said the most critical healing has been done, they can’t risk using much more healing powers or nectar or ambrosia right now, they fear it might be too much for Nico’s body. They will try to use a little of unicorn draught, carefully, but they will have to wait to actually use more efficient healing. They will keep monitoring him and try to heal him again once his body has had a chance to recover from all the power already used on him.” The daughter of Athena reported. Reyna nodded, grateful for the information. 

Annabeth’s eyes were kind “He will be okay, Reyna. He’s a strong demigod, a child of one of the big Three, they are very resistant.” She tried to assure her friend. 

“This shouldn’t have happened.” Reyna said with no emotion. “He shouldn’t be again fighting for his life and be so hurt…” she stopped talking. 

Annabeth looked at her friend with sad eyes. “I know. I wish Nico could have a peaceful life, he deserves it as much as all demigods. I’m so very sorry this happened to him. We will find out what happened to the barrier and what those monster wanted with him, they will pay for what they did to Nico and all the demigods they have been chasing and hurting.”  
With that Annabeth walked away, towards Percy’s bed, letting Reyna have a much needed time alone.

She noticed the healers had dispersed in the infirmary, tending to the many demigods in there. She moved towards Nico’s bed, where a blond boy with hazel eyes and freckles (a sibling of Will, for sure) was writing furiously on a chart. He noticed her approach. 

“I’m listing all his injuries and treatment so far. Don’t worry praetor, we’ll do our best to have him healed as fast as possible.” He offered with a tired smile.

Reyna knew some of the healing would be beyond the Apollo children. Nico would have to deal with some of those injuries by himself. She hoped he would let her and his friend help. “Thank you. Is it ok if I sit by his side?”

“Yes, go ahead. My siblings and I will take turns monitoring him, but feel free to stay as long as you want.”

She nodded and took a sit on a chair next to Nico’s bed. The son of Hades face was pale, big dark circles under his eyes, his hair a mess, the healers had cleaned it as best they could, but she could see a few small pieces of tree bark on it. He looked thinner than the last time she had seen him, she bet he hadn’t eaten for days, running and protecting those two younger demigods, any food they had come across she was sure he had given to those two. How could destiny be so cruel to someone so kind and giving? She thought bitterly. She gently started to remove the pieces of bark she could see. She saw her fingers getting tinted red and realized Nico had small cuts on his scalp from the pieces of bark cutting into his head. She decided as soon as the healers would allow it, she would clean his hair. She didn’t know why, it just seemed important to her that Nico didn’t wake up with more evidence of this abuse. She rested against the chair, observing her friend. He looked so hurt, so tired and in pain.

She heard hooves in the distance. Chiron and Hedge were almost there. Her eyes felt heavy. She was so tired. She didn’t even see the two walk in the building, drifting to a dreamless sleep.


	36. Calm down!

Nico opened his eyes and immediately sat up, his instincts still tuned into flight or fight mode. 

The sudden movement cause sharp pain to shoot from his back and abdomen. His head spinning from sitting up too fast he heard someone by his side and almost jumped out of the bed he found himself on. Taking quick breaths he started to hear what the person was saying. 

“…don’t panic, Nico, you’re safe, it’s alright” he heard and realize the voice belonged to Reyna. He turned his head to the right and the girl came to focus in his sight.   
“Breathe deeply, Nico, it’s ok now, don’t worry, you’re safe inside the camp and in the infirmary.” She was saying. Nico just stared at her, letting the information sink in and remembering what had happened before he woke up. He first noticed the smell and looking down saw he was once again covered in coach Hedge’s brown gunk.

The memories of tracking and finding the demigod twins, running from monsters for days, reaching camp at last and the fight with the emposais came to him. He looked at his hands. Both were bandaged, but he could move his fingers, though it hurt a lot to do so.  
“Are they ok? Megan and Ryan, are they ok?” He asked in a raspy voice of someone who’s throat needed some water. 

Reyna handed him a glass of water and answered “Yes, the siblings are alright, thanks to you. They were staying in the Hermes cabin, but were claimed the second day they were in camp…”

“Aphrodite’s, right?” Nico asked  
“Yeah, how did you…”

“The ghost of their father was the kind of mortal that would most likely catch her attention…” 

“Oh, I see.” Reyna said and looked at Nico’s face as the son of Hades finished drinking his water. “How are you feeling? The healers and Chirion have been working on you every day. The worst of the injuries were dealt with as quick as possible, but it will take some time for all of it to be healed, so some pain is to be expected. They said slowly you should make a full recover, even your hands.” He could hear the relief on her voice.

“Tired. Wait, you said second day in camp, how long have I been out?” Nico asked.

“Five days."  
Nico seemed surprised at first, then just resigned. He had had too many days lost due to recovering from overuse of his powers, it was nothing new. He was trying to piece his memories since reaching the twins and starting their dangerous journey towards camp. So many monsters were chasing them, he had shadow traveled how many times? 4? 5? He couldn’t remember. 

Three time the monster almost caught them. Nico had fought them off and shadow traveled with the young demigods. He remembered the pain of a blade going through his right leg. They almost didn’t escape that time. He remembered the three of them running toward the camp’s barrier, which was somehow compromised by the emposai.

He remembered the fight with the two emposai. He moved his right hand to his stomach, where he could feel a deep pain, but nothing compared to the choking pain he felt when she had kicked him there. He felt his head itching and carefully used his hand to scratch it. He noticed his hair, which he expected to be dirty, was clean. He looked at Reyna.   
“I took the liberty of washing your hair. It was in dire need of it.” She said with a kind smile. Nico gave her a shy smile in return. That had been very kind of Reyna. He doubted she would bothered with such things with everyone. 

He continued to try and piece the sequence of events. The last thing he remembered was Jason commanding a lightning bolt on a tree, giving him a chance to escape through the shadows casted behind him. That was the last thing.

“How did I got back to camp…” he started to ask when he remembered a single moment. When he woke up and thought he saw the faces of Hazel, Piper, Will, Percy and Jason, before darkness surrounded them. Had that been real? 

Suddenly his memories also hit him. His mother standing up to those monsters. Finding out what her son was and slapping him. Delia. Poor, poor Delia, killed because of him. Did he take the others with him to those memories? Had they seen his mother’s reaction to knowing Nico wasn’t normal? Had they seen the death he had brought to an innocent and kind person?

“The others?!” he asked with urgency.  
“You remembered that?” Reyna said with some start. She had deeply hoped he wouldn’t remember those few seconds. Damn the Fates again! “Don’t worry Nico, they are…”

Nico started to breathe faster, panic starting to take hold of him, the pain in his back and abdomen getting worse as he hyperventilated, though now that he remembered the whole incident, he knew this pain wasn’t even a tenth of what it had been. 

“Nico, breathe! It wasn’t your fault, you were fighting so many monsters, they are ok, they’re just resting now, they woke up after a few hours, soon they will be here and will want to know you’re alright.” Reyna said in a calm but commanding tone, trying to calm Nico. 

“I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry, I never wanted to do that again to them!” Nico was speaking so fast Reyna could barely understand. 

The Roman praetor had a painful expression on her face. “Sorry for this Nico, but you need to calm down and rest, you’re injuries are still reason for concern. Do it.” She said looking to the corner of Nico’s room, where the son of Hades hadn’t even looked. 

“You are feeling calm and tired, you will sleep now and be well, you will not worry about what has happened during your sleep, you will have a dreamless sleep.” Nico heard those words, already feeling his body giving in to them. Drew kept slowly coaxing him to sleep. The son of Hades gradually sank back into bed, Reyna helping him. He felt sharp pain from moving, but sleep took him before it hurt him too much. 

“That was worse than I had expected.” The praetor said. 

“You tell me!” Drew was pale and breathing hard. She had the charmspeak gift, but it was a shadow compared to Piper’s. “If he had been a bit more focused or panicked I wouldn’t have been able to calm him. If the target of the charmspeak is experiencing a very strong emotion, it takes more effort and sometimes it’s just not possible to control them. I don’t know if when he wakes up next time I’ll be able to put him back to sleep. Let’s hope the others can be here the next time he wakes up, maybe he will be calmer if he sees the others are fine.”

Reyna nodded, looking at the pale face of the demigod in bed. All the healing done to him so far had been focused on his internal injuries, his organs, spinal cord and hands. The healers were immensely limited by Nico’s resistance to ambrosia and nectar. The unicorn draught was being used as much as possible, same as Hedge’s natural healing magic, but they seemed to be either working less or slower. The younger demigod still bore on his back, torso and abdomen big and ugly purple, black and greenish hematomas. The healers said his hands would most likely heal 100%, but until that it would be painful because of all the nerves involved in the injury. 

She knew Drew was right, it would be best if at least some of the other demigods could be here the next time Nico woke up, but they were still recovering themselves and Chiron had ordered them to rest. Safe for Will, who was still unconscious. Nico could not know that. The healer had exhausted himself. Kayla had woken up after the second day and, after checking up on Will said “Typical Solace. He will be alright, just need to rest after using all his powers.” But she seemed relieved. 

“Oh, great! There’s another one!” Drew said with drama.

Reyna scanned the room and saw it in the corner further from Nico’s bed. Another ghost. At least once a day a ghost would be seen in Nico’s room. The first time it happened the healer, that one Reyna had talked to before falling asleep on the chair, had screamed so loud everyone thought the room was under attack. 

They assumed the ghosts were under Hades orders to check on his son and then report to their Lord on Nico’s condition. The ghosts would appear in different times each day, hover around for some time minutes, some time hours, and then disappear. Reyna had to admit, Hades had one of the best system of communication in the Greek/Roman Pantheon. And she also had to admit he was probably the God to most care for his children, which gave her some feeling of gratitude towards the Lord of the Underworld. At least now on that area Nico had better luck than other demigods, having a godly parent notice you and actually care about you. 

“He woke up for a few minutes, but still need to rest and recover from his injuries.” Reyna told the ghost. She wasn’t sure if they bothered listening to her, but she would give them an account of Nico’s condition in case they did listen and reported that to Hades. 

The ghost barely acknowledge her by turning his blurred face towards her. He lingered for half an hour, going from one corner of the room to another, sometimes stopping by Nico’s bed and just staring (Reyna assume it was staring) the his Lord’s child. Then he vanished. 

“I hate those things!” Drew declared. The daughter of Aphrodite had been incredibly helpful, but she had to lash out sometimes. The fact one of the ghosts had actually walked through her on the second day might not have helped. “I hope Piper can take over soon.” She said.

Piper was still in need of recovery, otherwise Reyna would have asked her to be on guard on Nico’s room, but she feared she would need her to be here the next time Nico woke up. She hoped the girl would be able to help. 

As expected, that was not the case. 

The second time Nico woke up, Hedge was in the room. This time the son of Hades woke up fully aware of what had happened and what he had done to his friends. Hedge tried to calm him, but to no avail. It was just dumb luck that Jason and Hazel had just left to get some food. The satyr ran to the door and called for Drew (she and Reyna were always around when Piper and the others weren’t, so that they could help Nico whatever time he woke up) while Nico got his bearings. It was probably close to 6pm, just a little bit of sunlight remain in the sky he could see through the window. He heard footsteps on the hallway, probably the daughter of Aphrodite and Reyna on their way. 

“Just stay calm, kid. We are here to help you, it will all be alright.” Hedge tried to comfort Nico. 

But it wouldn’t be. Nico thought. I again attacked my friends. I’ve been training all this time for what? It was useless! Maybe I can’t be trusted to be near anyone. And they saw! They saw my mother slapping me for being… for being… for being the way I am! If not even she would accept me this way, how could I have believed anyone else would? And Delia! I killed Delia and now they know. It was my fault that kind woman died, because I was selfish and stayed when I should have left her alone. All demigods know better than put mortals at risk, and I did that just so I could feel accepted for once! I’m just as guilty for her death as the monster who killed her. 

Hedge saw Nico’s face becoming a mask of pain, guilt and fear. “Now, now kid! I don’t know what’s going on inside that head of yours, but don’t you dare think you have any fault in what happened! You were in a horrible situation and lost control, it was less than the first time, it only affected 5 people, you were in danger, you reacted as you should, it was not your fault and your friends will tell you the same thing”. 

Nico just lifted his head and looked at Hedge. The satyr saw such agony in the demigod’s eyes he almost felt it himself.   
“I can’t, coach. I can’t stay here.” Nico said in a desperate voice. 

“Wait, what? No, you’re not going anywhere! You’re still hurt and need rest, don’t even think about…” before Hedge could finish his sentence Nico had already called the shadows from under the bed to him and was vanishing in them. Reyna and Drew got to the door just as Nico melted in shadows, Percy, who had heard Hedge all the way from the infirmary door and had been on his way to check on Nico as a few steps behind them.

“Nico! Wait! Don’t go!” He heard Reyna say before all was silence. 

Persephone was tending to her garden in the palace when she felt a disturbance in the air and turned in time to see her husband’s son fall through the shadows casted by some of her trees. Nico felt to the ground on all fours, looked to his right and saw his stepmother, then proceeded to fall unconscious on a bed of a flower resembling petunias.


	37. You're asking the wrong person

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote the next 3 chapters while sleep deprieved, I might have to revise and change somethings later, but wanted to post them today anyway.

Four days. It had been 4 days since Nico shadow traveled from his room in the infirmary and no one knew where he was.

Will had woken up on the second day of his disappearance. He had talked to the others who shared Nico’s memory, it had been a sad conversation. 

Hazel felt a sadness for her brother like she had never felt for anything in her life. It hurt her to see what Nico had been through in his life, all alone. She too was a child of the Underworld, but in the Roman camp she had felt accepted, a part of something. Nico had never had that once he found out he was a son of Hades. 

“I didn’t know he had survived on his own in the streets of New York, he never told me that. Why he never said anything?” The daughter of Pluto had puffy eyes from crying, Frank was by her side, gently rubbing her back. 

“He’s just so used to dealing with everything on his own, Hazel, he would never do that thinking he shouldn’t burden anyone with his well being. It was before he had a place at camp, or even knew you, he wouldn’t want to tell you this.” Frank said.

“Or he just didn’t think anyone would care.” Will said bitterly, then realizing he had said it out loud he continue “Not you, Hazel, if anything you probably were the only person in this world Nico knew he could count on always.” The daughter of Pluto had assured everyone Nico was still alive, but not knowing where he was, and in what condition since his injuries were many and not completely healed, not to mention his use of shadow traveling which most likely had spent a lot of the little energy he had recovered, had all of them worried about the son of Hades. 

Percy looked to the floor at that comment. Hard as it was to hear, they all knew it was true. After experiencing Nico’s isolation from both the demigod and mortal worlds, they had an idea of why the son of Hades was so silent, withdrawn and kept to himself, he didn’t know how to be different from that. So many years living on his own, fighting alone to stay alive day after day, knowing that if any day a monster killed him no one would even know he was gone, that was a horrible way to live. 

And to see that the one time he had found some compassion and friendship, after so many horrible things in his life, had ended so violently and tragically, it made things so much worse. 

Will felt his spirit being crushed every time he thought about that memory, realizing the impact this event had on Nico, to the point the boy would associate him being around people the cause of their deaths, thinking that whoever he came close too, or even touched, he would be somehow bringing them the end of their lives.

Will now could see how that cheerful boy who came to camp years ago turned into the tormented and isolated demigod he was now. In his life Will had known loss, he had lost siblings and friends in the war, but he at least had had them and his family, always. His loving mother, his step father, all his demigods half brothers and sister, his mortal and demigod friends, safety in camp, acceptance, food and shelter every day, things some days he had taken for granted. To think Nico had lost all his family so soon in his life and then felt he had no place in the demigod world because of his parentage, it made Will so angry and sad. He had never given too much thought to the fact there was no cabin for Hades at camp, even though Hades was the eldest of the Big Three. The campers were told Hades wasn’t welcomed in Olympus, so it made sense not to have a cabin for him at camp, especially since there hadn’t been a child of Hades in decades. Will, being so young at the time, didn’t think much of it. Now he wished he had. 

He remembered when he came to camp, he was a child, and was placed in the Hermes cabin. His mother had told him he was a son of Apollo, but he still didn’t quite believe that, so he had said nothing about it. When he was claimed by the God, after 6 weeks in camp, he was so happy. He went to the Apollo cabin that day, celebrated by his siblings, welcomed to his new home and family, he had his bed in his cabin amongst his brothers and sisters. He already had good friends at camp, Lou Ellen being one of them, who gave a small party to celebrate his claiming. He still remembered that day with such joy and fondness. 

Nico never had that. His only sibling had been killed, he had no cabin to go to, no one to train him on his abilities and powers, his father was feared and shunned by the other Gods and Goddesses and by the demigods, with no place to honor him or to welcome his children at camp, not even a table for his children to eat at. 

Will wonder what he would have done if he had been claimed by a God or Goddess with no place in camp. If he, like Nico, found out his parentage and suddenly learned he was no longer welcomed at camp. He had seen this happened, demigods children of Nike, Nemesis, Hypnos and so many others, once claimed and, no longer allowed to stay in Hermes’ cabin, had no place to go. Chiron would offer them a room in the big house, but the truth was there to hit them in the face every day: their parents had no place in camp, and if those Goddesses and Gods didn’t, why would their children have? These demigods would eventually leave camp, feeling they had no place where their own parents weren’t accepted. 

The son of Apollo understood why so many demigods had sided with Kronos during the Titan’s war. Why would they fight for the Olympians that wouldn’t even grant their parents and their demigod children a place in the only safe haven they had in the mortal world?

All that had changed when Percy Jackson had demanded the Gods and Goddesses acknowledge their children and allowed all deities to have a cabin at camp. Things had gotten so much better for demigods after that, they all had a home at camp, they had the same rights and protection. Will remembered Nico building the obsidian black cabin for his father, further away from the Poseidon and Zeus cabin, but imposing none the less, standing out with it’s windowless walls and ever burning green torches. Still, the son of Hades had barely finished it’s construction and he left camp once more, again feeling the awareness and hesitation, not to mention sometimes plain fear, other campers had of him. 

He and the others had discussed some of this, trying to pin point when that memory of Nico had taken place. They had told Annabeth, Frank, Reyna and Leo about it, but had kept the one about his mother a secret amongst the 5 of them, that one wouldn’t help them in any way and they felt they had had no right to see it, much less tell anyone about it.   
During their conversation, trying to come up with places where they should look for Nico, Percy would rarely speak and mostly kept his eyes down, avoiding the others, especially Hazel. 

“You think he might have gone to one of the shelters? I mean, the way he was he couldn’t have gotten far, he might go someplace he stayed before since he lived in the str.. er, spent time in the city.” Leo suggested. 

“No, by what they told of his memory Nico was avoiding the shelters, most likely reluctant to bring any monster on track near so many defenseless mortals.” Annabeth countered.  
There was a suffocating silence at this, all thinking about Delia. 

“Percy, you have always lived in New York, do you have any idea where a demigod might go to feel safe there?” Frank asked the son of Poseidon.   
Percy lifted his head after hearing his name called, looking in Frank’s direction and met Hazel’s eyes. He looked down again.

“He was 7 stops from my home.” He said almost too low to be heard.

“What?” Frank asked.

“He was seven subways stops away from my home.” Percy said louder. He again looked to Hazel. “I know where he was in the city, in that memory. I saw the subway he passed by, if he had gotten in of them, he would just have to go by 7 stops and he would have been two blocks away from my apartment. He could have gone there, he could have come to me, I would have helped him, he would have food, a place to sleep and rest, then I could’ve brought him back to camp…where… he had no place to stay…” the son of Poseidon talked fast, guilt in his voice. “He was so close to my house, and he knew it, he came there some time after, he probably knew where I lived then, he could have gone there, I would’ve helped him, I…” Percy took a shallow breath “But he didn’t. He didn’t think I could or would help, he didn’t trust me, I had broken my promise to bring back his sister alive, I had not show him in any way I cared what he had been going through since leaving camp, I was so caught up in the war against Kronos I didn’t even think about Nico surviving outside the camp until I saw him in the Labyrinth, and even after, when he vanished again, I didn’t ask him to stay in camp, I didn’t even know if he would have a place or would be accepted here, with his father not having a cabin of his own.” There were a few moments of silence, everyone listening to Percy. 

“I’m so sorry, Hazel. I’m so very sorry I didn’t help your brother. If maybe I had he wouldn’t have gone through so many bad things, losing one more person he cared about. I’m so sorry I was so untrustworthy to him that he thought he had to face everything alone, living on the streets of New York, fighting for his life everyday on his own, feeling like no one cared about him.” Percy said in a soft and sad tone, the guilt he felt evident in his voice and face. 

There was a long silence after that, no one knew what to say, Percy once again was looking down at the floor. 

“It’s not up to me to forgive you, Percy, if that’s what you’re looking for.” Hazel said in a serious tone she didn’t often use. The son of the sea God looked at her. Her eyes were emotionless. “I wished your camp had done more for Nico, all of your camp, not just you, maybe he wouldn’t have gone through such horrible things if he thought he had a place to belong and people who accepted him” with those words, Annabeth, Percy and Will all looked down. They had been there when Nico had ran away from camp, they should have looked faster and harder for the son of Hades, when they met him at the Labyrinth they should have been more persuasive in telling Nico to stay at camp, but they didn’t. They didn’t look for him after he vanished the second time, nor when he left camp after the war, even when his father finally had a cabin for him to live in. They should have, Nico was a powerful demigod, one that would attract immediate attention from monsters. They had all been dealing with the grief of losses and working on rebuilding their own lives after the war, maybe they should have given the lonesome son of Hades some support in rebuilding his life, since he had lost everything during the war and had no one to help him with that, no parent, or half siblings like they had, or a partner like Annabeth and Percy had each other. 

“If you want forgiveness, you’ll have to ask from Nico himself.” Hazel finished, got up and walked out of the infirmary, feeling too overwhelmed in knowing now how close Nico had been to somewhere safe and how he hadn’t even consider asking for anyone’s help because he probably thought no one would care enough about him to even be worth asking. 

The others left behind said nothing more. Will, Annabeth and Percy looked like they carrying a 100 kilos on their shoulders. The others didn’t know anything they could say after Hazel’s statement. Frank waited a few minutes to let Hazel collect her thoughts and then left after her. 

One by one they left the room, all trying to think of where the son of Hades could be.


	38. The first to live

Nico felt old, so old. He felt like he had seen so much, empires come and go, thousands of life times pass, so many souls come and go, so many stories, happy and sad, victorious and tragic, long lives and short lives, righteous lives and despicable lives. 

He was navigating through memories, memories not his own, of time before time, of barren existence and life beginning, of death ending those lives and others coming after, an infinite cycle, everlasting. 

He suddenly stopped in one memory, he couldn’t tell how old it was, but he felt it was centuries old, maybe more than that. 

What he was a red wasteland, giant rocks spread around, mountains could be seen in the distance, the sky was an ugly color, dark grey, lighting and thunders everywhere, the earth shook, he could hear the sea somewhere nearby, crashing violently against rocks. He could feel the temperature cold, so cold he knew if he was there his breath would be fogging. 

In an area amongst large stoned and rocks there laid three bodies. 

One was a young boy, Nico would guess maybe 13. He had dark brown hair and his unseeing eyes were of sea green colour. A son of Poseidon. 

The other was a blonde teen, maybe 17 or 18 by his size and sparse facial hair. His eyes were closed, but Nico would bet if they had been opened they would be of a stormy blue, just like Thalia’s. 

The third body was that of a girl, maybe 14 or 15 years old, with the longest hair Nico had ever seen, raven black like his. She had her eyes opened, but they were not unfocused like the first demigod. She was still breathing, with difficulty and pain, her breath coming out in small puff of fog. She had many injuries, the biggest one reveled by a deep red stain on the right side of her grey linen robe, next to her hand laid a sword with the darkest blade a weapon could ever have. Nico came closer to her, kneeling down by her head. 

His half sister turned her head and looked him in his eyes. He saw so much of himself in her eyes, her dark brown, almost black eyes, her left one had light brown spots on the iris. Without she needing to tell him anything he saw her life. Born to a mother that died in childbirth, growing up depending on the rare kindness of strangers, being feared, hated and outcasted from the village when they found out she was the daughter of the God Hades. Being visited by Alecto, who gave her the Styngian iron sword, being told she would have to run everyday for her life because other demigods had been sent to kill her. 

He felt her fear, her anguish in being hunted down like a monster. She ran, she fought monsters alone, she fought and killed demigods she never wanted to hurt because they wanted to hurt her. She tried to hide, but they would find her. In her resentment and pain she found her powers and learned how to use them. She had survived years like this, always searching for someplace she could belong, never finding it. Villages and towns would either exile her when they found out who she was or try to imprison her while waiting for other demigods to arrive to deal with her. She would escape, no one knew how because no one knew of her powers, and she would run again, and she would fight again and again. 

Until one day she met them in a green field by the sea, sent by their fathers. She asked them to leave her be, she had done nothing wrong, she only had protected herself. They didn’t care. Their fathers had given them a mission and they would honor them. 

The fight was brutal, more destructive than Nico had ever seen any fight between demigods be. The field completely destroyed, the stones, boulders and rock he now saw had been brought to the surface by her, the lightning and sea water burnt and destroyed to ground, the son of Poseidon, younger and less experienced than both was the first to fall, but still he had injured her and made her use so much of her power. She tried to run, but the son of Zeus would send lightning after lightning whenever she tried to get to a shadow to escape. Finally, when they both could no longer use any power anymore, they engaged in a sword fight, in which both loss. 

Now she laid dying, scared and alone, resenting everyone for never giving her a chance, resenting all the Gods for sending their children to destroy her. She had never done anything to anyone. Until the first demigod that had tried to kill her, she had never harmed anyone. Why was she so feared and hated? It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair!

She saw someone approaching, kneeling down by her side and at first she waited for a final blow, one that would finally end the miserable existence she now wasn’t sure it had been worth fighting so hard for. But the blade never came. She turned her head towards the stranger, her pain almost unbearable.

Her eyes found his eyes and she somehow knew they were almost the same. She saw he had tears on his eyes, he was so sad. He took her hand and held it gently, his other hand was tenderly caressing her head. She had never known such kind touch, as if he cared for her, as if he was crying for her. 

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m here with you, you’re not alone, I’ll remember you, sister, you won’t be forgotten.” His voice full of sorrow, his breath joining hers in small clouds.

Her breathing was coming slower and shallower, the clouds of her breathing becoming smaller and smaller, she was almost gone, but she felt an amazing feeling fill her. She had someone. There was someone here, with her and for her. She wasn’t alone anymore. She would be remembered. With the last strength she had, she gave him the only and most beautiful smile she ever had given to anyone in her life. Then she exhale one last time and her eyes unfocused. No more breaths came out of her mouth into the cold world. Nico felt her spirit leaving her body, his tears falling on her now still face, her smile still there. 

“She was my first child.” A somber and mournful voice said behind Nico, watching the sorrowful scene. His first born and his last, the beginning and the end of his wretched lineage. 

“Why didn’t you help her?” Was all he could say.

“We were not allowed to intervene as much in our children’s lives as we do now. It was a time where the mortals knew of our existence and worshiped us, they knew of our children and would either held them in honor or resent them bitterly. We, Gods, were even more selfish and self centered than now, rarely taking any part in our children’s lives except when we needed them to do our biding. But I always regretted not doing more for her.” Hades answered. 

Nico didn’t care for his excuses. “She was hunted down by other demigods! They were being sent by their godly parents, they were interfering!” He almost shouted.

“Yes, they were. Since always the other Gods, especially Zeus and incited by him, didn’t see the existence of any of my children as safe for the world. They would deny, of course, but they were always on the look for a potential child of mine to be born, wanting to destroy the threat as soon as it came to existence. That’s why my first child ever, my first daughter, took so long to be born. By the time she was born, Zeus and Poseidon each had had more than 5 children of their own along the centuries. I tried to keep her safe, I tried to hide her existence, to protect her, but every time I tried to reach her I was being watched and I knew I could lead them straight to her. I visited her in dreams, tried to warn her as many times as I could, but even these few communications were a threat to her because of Hypnos and his children.” 

The Lord of the Underworld was now standing by his daughter’s body. He kneeled down, lightly put his fingers on her eyes and closed them, opened her mouth and place a golden coin under her tongue and gently picked her up. He didn’t spare a single glance to his brother’s dead son’s. 

“Was this real?” Nico asked, remaining knelt down where he was. “Did she see me here, was I able to give her some comfort?” he asked, hoping against all hope it had been real, that she had had someone by her side at the end and that was sad for her death. He didn’t notice his breath no longer fogged in the chilling air.

For a brief moment Hades turned to his son with a mournful expression, looked him in the eyes and only said: 

“It’s time you woke up, son”


	39. Let's share

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I want to imagine Hades cared deeply for Maria de Angelo and would want to have as many memories of her as possible.

He opened his eyes to a dark ceiling. He knew that ceiling. He was in his room in the Underworld. 

He looked around and saw a bizarre scene. Standing by the side of his bed and looking out the window was his father, but he seemed less intimidating, Nico could see he looked less solid. He also saw tendrils of shadows coming out of his own body and joining identical tendrils coming out of Hades body. 

“What is this?” he asked in a dry voice. 

Hades didn’t turn to him, just answered still looking out the window “I’m grounding your existence. When you arrived here you were on the verge of disappearing, I’ve been using my powers to subdue your shadows and darkness and keeping them under control until you recovered. A side effect of that is that you gain access to my memories and I to yours.”

Nico flinched at that. He remembered why he ran from camp this time. He hoped Hades hadn’t seen those memories, especially the one about his mother. 

“What did you see of my memories?” He asked in almost a defensive tone.

“Nothing I didn’t already know, I only caught glimpses and put them away. I didn’t pry into your memories Nico, I have control over the shadows to not allow them to submit me to them.” He said and turned to face his son.

Nico was relieved by that. “Why are you like that? You look… smoky? Not quite solid”

“That’s because I’m not all here. Only a part of me, most of me is somewhere else, ruling my kingdom.” Hades explained. 

That didn’t surprise Nico. He suddenly realized Hades was speaking in Italian with him, maybe because he wanted to make his son more comfortable by speaking his native language.

“Why did you come here in such a precarious state, my son?” Hades inquired. 

Nico turned his head. He noticed there was a pitcher and a glass by his bed side. He tried to grab the pitcher and pour himself some water, but pain shoot through his hand and he dropped it. He took deep breathes to make the pain go away. Hades watched in silence. He wave his hand and the pitcher lifted itself from the floor, poured water that had magically reappeared inside it on the glass and settle itself on the nightstand. The glass then rose from its place and floated to Nico’s hand. Nico cautiously tried to hold the glass and noticed how light it was. Hades was keeping it afloat so all Nico had to do was slowly turn the glass to drink. 

After he drank the glass floated back to the nightstand. He saw Hades was still waiting for an answer. 

“I…” he tried to talk but didn’t know how. He took a deep breath. “I did it again. I accidentally attacked my friends who were just trying to help me. They…” He didn’t want to say it, but felt he had to “They saw some of my memories, one I didn’t even remembered myself, about my mother.” He finished and look at Hades. 

For a second the God’s mask of emotionless cracked and Nico saw longing in his eyes. It was quickly gone. “Go on” he said. 

Nico didn’t want to go through that memory again. It hurt him so much to have remembered his mother’s reaction. She didn’t accept him for what he was. She didn’t think he was normal, she had practically begged him to hide it, so much she didn’t want anyone to know what an abnormal child she had. 

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He said. Hades seemed impatient for a moment, but reigned in his emotion. “You can tell me Nico, if it’s about Maria, I would like very much to know.” And he added “Please.”

Nico was almost stunned to hear him actually request something so politely of him. But he still didn’t want to tell. Unless… 

“I’ll make you a deal.”

His father let suspicion show on his face, but made a motion with his hand for Nico to go on.

“I’ll tell you about my mother, but only if you do the same.” 

Hades opened his mouth to answer, but Nico was faster “And! Tell if that really happened. If my sister could see me in her final moments.”

The God stared at his son. Never any of his children had dared made any demand of any kind. This one had already made so many he didn’t know how he had accepted and not vaporized him. On the other hand, all his demands had been for the good of others, never his own, this was the first time. And, to be honest, Hades had some respect for this son of his, fearless to risk his father’s wrath if it meant achieving what he wanted. He supposed that was one of the reasons he had favored Nico, after the Titan war, more than any of his children. Along with the fact he was his last child and, maybe most of all, the last piece of Maria di Angelo still alive. He saw so much of that amazing woman in Nico, his son had no idea how much he was alike her. 

“Very well, it’s a fair trade I suppose.” Hades conceded to his son one more time. 

Nico tried to hide his surprise. “Ok. Hum… who goes first?” he asked. 

“Since you already visited one of mine, I think is fair you should share first.” Hades answered. 

With that he sent on of his tendrils towards Nicos forehead and told him “Focus on that memory.”

The moment the dark shadow touched Nico he relived the memory, he could sense Hades by his side this time. He tried to hide his face from his father. When the slap came he even looked away, avoiding the scene. He didn't want to look at Hades either, afraid of what he would see in his father's face. When it was over they remained in the streets watching Maria and little Nico and Bianca walking away. Hades said no word. He simply waved his arm and the image faded and blurred. 

“My turn.” The God said. The image started to spin, Nico closed his eyes. When he opened again he saw his mother, younger than he had ever seen, walking along side Hades. His father looked, for lack of a better work, good. His face wasn’t so pale and haunting, he was handsome even, his hair longer than now, the wind sweeping it to the sides along with Maria’s long dark hair. They were happy, Maria was walking with her arm locked with Hades’, she was smiling, and, for the first time in his life, Nico saw his father smiling too. A sincere smile. He realized how much his father must’ve loved Maria di Angelo to affected by her presence and to have changed even physically after her death. He could feel through the memory, Hades' adoration for his mother, it was something he never had felt before. 

The memory shifted. Maria was holding a little baby and gently handed her to Hades to hold. “Her name is Bianca. Isn’t she beautiful?” Maria asked him. Hades didn’t say a word and now Nico knew why. Bianca reminded him so much of his first daughter. 

The image again changed. Maria sitting in bed, holding another baby. Hades was sitting beside her, with Bianca on his lap staring fascinated at her brother. “This is Nico, dear Bianca, your baby brother.” Maria said. Hades kissed Maria’s head and gently ran his hand on Nico’s head, already full of black hair. “He looks like you, amore.”Maria told Hades. 

Another scene appeared. Maria looking agitated and upset. “We must leave, now! It’s too dangerous here for them! It’s too dangerous for Nico!” 

“Why for Nico? I’m afraid for all of you.” Hades said.

Maria stopped her pacing and looked at the father of her children. “It is dangerous for all of us, but I fear the most for my boy.” Nico understood what she was talking about. This memory happened after that afternoon, when she found out what her son was. Nico felt his insides twisting, the shame and sadness overwhelming him again. He almost asked his father to take him away from this, he didn’t want to see his mother so upset because of him. In his mind the thoughts that had ruled his life for so long were coming back. He was a freak. Not only was he a son of Hades, he had his memories stolen, he was from another time decades ago, he was made even more despicable by being that way, for liking boys. Why should anyone accept him? His own mother had been ashamed and disgusted for what he was, she had slapped him for it, and now was trying to run from it, hide it. He was reason for her to want to run, to wand to hide away from society, he wasn’t normal, so they would have to leave their home and flee, he would have to denied and hide who he was in order to not be rejected and hated or persecuted. 

“Hades, he won’t be accepted here, they won’t allow him to be himself here. I don’t know if there’s a place he will be safe from them, but we have to protect him. And here the hatred for them is too strong already, I fear for him the most.” She said in a desperate tone. Nico raised his bowed head after hearing this.

“What do you mean, Maria?” Hades asked

“He told me a few days ago that he liked someone, a boy.” Maria said. Hades was unfazed by this. Nico eyes were wide. His father knew. All along he knew about... about Nico. And he didn't care. He wasn't angry, ashamed, revolted by the idea that his son liked boys. Nico felt a wave wash over him. At first he couldn't tell what it was, then realised. It was relief. His father saw nothing wrong in him being that way. Nico would have laugh if the situation allowed it. 

The scene continued.

“He was so happy, and I slapped him.” Maria’s voice started to falter, she was crying. “I slapped my little boy because if anyone else heard that they would take him away from me for being different” She was sobbing now, Hades walked closer to her and put her head on his shoulder. “He doesn’t understand yet, and I didn’t want him to know so soon, but he can’t tell anyone about that, so I had to make him promise me he wouldn’t tell anyone else, I had to make him understand it was serious and dangerous, Gods forgive me, I slapped him for that! I slapped my Nico because others would hurt him so much worse if they knew!” Maria’s body shook from her crying, Hades just held her. 

“We’ll leave, my dear. We will take them somewhere safe, I promise. No one will hurt them or you.” Hades said to Maria, she just held to his suit with such despair her knuckles were white.

“My poor boy, my sweet perfect boy…” she said.

The memory faded. 

Nico was once again sitting on his bed, staring at no point in particular, stunned. 

“She was never ashamed or disgusted by you, Nico. She was terrified for you. Because of other people’s hatred and ignorance. But she never thought of you, and Bianca, as nothing but her perfect children.” Hades said in a low voice. 

Nico felt something wet on his hand. He realized he was crying, for the second time that day. 

“Your mother would sacrifice anything and everything for you and Bianca, in the end she did. All she ever wanted was for you to have a good life, a happy life. I know I didn’t help much in your first years after leaving the Casino. Your mother’s death changed me in a way us Gods rarely do when it comes to the loss of mortals. Then Bianca’s death took more of your mother away from me. My resentment only grew and, in a misguided way, I might have directed that towards you, being all that was left of my Maria and that to me was not enough.” Hades continued. “I have let go of that resentment Nico, and you were the biggest reason for that, when you convinced me to let go of my grudge against my brother and join the fight against Kronos, I decided to try to not be ruled by old resentments anymore. Doesn’t mean I have none, but definitely less.”

Nico remained silence, just listening. 

“The memory you visited, of your first sister. Don’t doubt your instincts, Nico. If you feel it was real and you were there, giving her what she sought her whole life and never had, then believe it really happened.” Hades said and started to fade, his shadows detaching themselves from his son’s, both receding back to their respective masters. 

“One last thins son.” Nico lifted his gaze towards his father, his image made even more hazy due to the tears in his eyes. “Your mother would have given her life any day for you and your sister, don’t you think you should try to honors such sacrifice by giving yourself the chance to have the life she wanted for you?” With that Hades image disappear, leaving Nico alone in his room in the palace of Erebos. 

“Thank you.” Nico whispered to no one.


End file.
